J&K Government orders Corona Virus screening at airports

Announcing a slew of measures to check any suspected cases of Coronavirus, the government of Jammu and Kashmir has ordered screening of people at airports arriving from China, Nepal, and other countries, where the confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported. Jammu and Kashmir Government ordered the establishment of a Control room in the office of State Surveillance Office at Srinagar and Jammu as a part of an action plan to prevent the spread of the virus in the Union Territory. The Government also issued an advisory to all the districts as well as announcements to be made on railway stations, airports besides other measures.

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The decisions in this regard were taken during an urgent meeting chaired by Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo at Civil Secretariat, Jammu to discuss the action plan to check the spread of Corona Virus in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

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“Adequate measures are being made to identify passengers with symptoms of the disease and directed the officers to make arrangements to isolate any suspected case to curb the spread of the virus. An advisory will be issued to all the Deputy Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir to step up their preparedness to tackle any suspected cases. The advisory includes designating of rapid response teams, enhanced surveillance, capacity for laboratory diagnosis, and earmarking isolation wards,” Atal Dulloo said.

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Special isolation wards prepared

Special isolation wards will be established at Government Medical Colleges of Jammu and Srinagar, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura and other districts where a special team of doctors and paramedics will be constituted and trained accordingly. In the meeting, directions were issued for activating Multi-disciplinary Research Units (MRUs) at Government Medical College Jammu and Srinagar and the samples of the suspected cases to be drawn immediately and sent to the National Institute of Biologicals, Pune for confirmation. The government also directed the officers that sizable inventory of personal protection equipment, N-95 masks, and other logistical arrangements be kept in place and buffer stock be also maintained.

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