KARGIL, APRIL 02, 2021: To discuss concrete measures aimed to formulate a sustainable and workable strategy for prevention of COVID-19 upsurge in the district, Chairman and Chief Executive Councillor, LAHDC, Kargil Feroz Ahmad Khan in presence of the Executive Councillor for Health Muhammad Ali Chandan, Deputy Commissioner and CEO, LAHDC, Kargil Santosh Sukhadeve and SSP Kargil Anayat Ali Choudhary  held a meeting with the concerned officers of the District Administration and the representatives of various religious, social and political organizations at Conference Hall Baroo here today.

Additional DC Kargil Tsering Motup, Additional SP Iftikhar Talib Choudhary, Assistant Commissioner Revenue Shabir Hussain, Chief Medical Officer Dr Munawar Hussain Wazir, other concerned officers and doctors of Health Department were present in the meeting.

During the course of the meeting, CEC Feroz Ahmad Khan extended gratitude to the religious, social, political organizations and the frontline workers for their continued support in effective implementation of COVID-19 SOPs in the district which has helped a great deal in curbing the spread of the virus in the district so far. He also urged them to extend their support and coordination to ensure smooth and hassle-free implementation of the set protocols and guidelines.

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CEC Khan while expressing concern over the rising number of cases in the country and in view the influx of large number of travellers, laborers, locals and tourists in the district after the opening of Zojila Pass stressed the need to formulate a pragmatic strategy to deal with any possible upsurge in the number of cases in due consultation with the representatives of the organizations and the officers of District Administration and Health Department.

Meanwhile, thorough discussion and brainstorming was conducted in the meeting during which the representatives of the organizations, officers and doctors put forth their suggestions and inputs to further strengthen the implementation of the COVID-19 SOPs.

Among various other measures, the participants suggested for accelerating the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination process, conduct of aggressive screening and testing and enhancement of manpower and infrastructure at all entry points including Meenamarg and Khangral, obtaining of 96 hours prior RT-PCR report by all inbound passengers entering into the district, implementation of odd even formula for schools in case of rising number of cases, implementation of SOPs in letter and spirit and imposing of fines against the violators.

While urging the representatives of religious organizations to minimise the religious gatherings as much as possible, CEC Feroz Ahmad Khan also exhorted upon them to enlighten the masses about the need to follow adequate CABs in their daily routine so as to keep the district safe from Coronavirus. He also underlined the need to fortify the process of awareness through All India Radio, Kargil, Information Department, Kargil and various social media platforms.  

EC Health Muhammad Ali Chandan said that the Health Department Kargil is now well equipped with adequate manpower and machinery equipments and is fully geared up in all respects to deal with the COVID-19 situation. He also thanked the UT Administration and LAHDC, Kargil for having taken all required measures in this regard.

DC Kargil Santosh Sukhadeve said that the District Administration is fully committed to carry out all required measures in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and among other measures including the strengthening of screening points in terms of infrastructure and manpower, completion of vaccination as per the fixed targets, constitution of random inspection teams to check the proper implementation of SOPs in schools are being taken to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

SSP Kargil Anayat Ali Choudhary urged the religious heads to appeal the masses to follow the COVID-19 protocols and guidelines in their religious sermons especially the Friday prayers.

Earlier, the CMO Kargil through a detailed power point presentation informed the meeting about the COVID-19 status in the district including the total number of positive cases, block wise positive cases, details of samples collected as on date, high risk groups, sampling details and status, block wise details of COVID and Non-COVID deaths, block wise progress of COVID-19 vaccination and other related aspects.

Proposing the future strategy to combat COVID-19, the CMO informed the meeting that steps are being taken to enhance screening and testing at all screening points by deploying more manpower besides to increase bed capacity of all COVID Care Centers and ensure their proper functionality. He also assured that 100 percent surveillance of all suspects and 7 days mandatory quarantine of all inbound passengers and there testing there of shall be ensured besides also amplifying surveillance at village level by constituting teams comprising of PRI members and Revenue staff.