Lt Governor discusses steps taken to tackle COVID-19 surge

Jammu, Jan 21: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Friday reviewed COVID-19 situation with the members of Covid Task Force, DCs & SPs and discussed the various steps being undertaken across the UT to tackle the surge.
At the outset, the Deputy Commissioners briefed the Lt Governor about the covid situation, status of vaccination, implementation of Covid Appropriate Behavior (CAB), and other related measures in their respective districts.
The Lt Governor observed that the emerging situation has necessitated strict observance of Covid Appropriate Behavior and COVID SOP’s by the general public.
The Lt Governor stressed upon the officials to focus on spreading awareness among public about self-care during home isolation. “We must reach out to the patients in home isolation and concerned health officials should ensure that their daily needs, medicines, etc are taken care of with full sensitivity”, he said.
He also instructed the officials to expedite the ongoing Vaccination drive.
“Vaccination will continue to be the most effective tool to fight pandemic. Our focus is to saturate precautionary doses to frontline workers and senior citizens”, the Lt Governor asserted.
On the issue of testing, the Lt Governor passed explicit directions to increase testing in the areas where more cases are being reported.
The Lt Governor further stressed that the local administration should try their best to reduce the rate of positivity and also ensure that required medical facilities are made available to all the needy persons.
“Authorities on the ground should focus more on local containment to safeguard public health and momentum of economic activities”, he said.
The Lt Governor also emphasized on usage of mobile clinics to create awareness amongst the COVID-19 patients who are in home isolation as well as those in rural areas.
Earlier, Vivek Bhardwaj, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department presented detailed statistics on the Covid-19 situation & threat level, status of testing, contact tracing, and vaccination across the UT. He informed the chair that the vaccination drive for the 15-18 year age group is going on smoothly across the UT and four districts have already completed 100% of 1st dose of vaccination for the 15 to 17 age group.
Later, the Lt Governor congratulated the healthcare and frontline workers on completing the landmark of surpassing 2 crore Covid vaccinations across the UT. He appreciated the efforts and work done by all the concerned agencies which are working day and night to fight the Covid surge.
The chair also took stock of the implementation of directions passed in previous meetings.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Governor; Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department; besides Senior officers of Civil and police administration attended the meeting, in person and through virtual mode.