Need to gear up

The new variant of Covid-19 has seemingly increased the number of cases across the country, prompting the administration in Jammu and Kashmir to take a review and prepare to deal with any eventuality in the coming days or weeks. As the cases have started rising across the country, there is a need to take all precautions well on time to make all the arrangements to deal with the risky situation, if any. It is the time when the government needs to brace up for all the activities and start testing of people once again, who are having symptoms and visit the hospitals here across the Union Territory. There is a dire need to activate COVID-19 testing facilities, conduct ample testing following the Revised Surveillance Strategy, and meticulously report ILI (Influenza-like Illness) and SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infection) cases while adhering to recommended testing protocols. The directions in this regard have been passed to all the Chief Medical Officers (CMO) in a meeting chaired by the Secretary Health, Jammu and Kashmir. The officers have been asked to review the availability of medicines and other essential supplies in advance to ensure that everything is in place at the grassroots level should the need arise. This is the time when the health department should gear up and ensure that the things are set in a proper direction and the situation witnessed in the past is not repeated. The government needs to ensure some Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are at least followed at this juncture so that the possible spread of the cases are prevented well on time.