Lt Guv e-inaugurates J-K's first Covid call centre

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday inaugurated the union territory's first Covid response call centre in Srinagar, an official spokesperson said. It also launched web and mobile applications which will help in real time integrated management of the coronavirus disease, he said.

The call centre and the web and mobile applications were e-inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu, while Chief Secretary, BVR Subrahmanyam, and Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo also attended the launch through video conference, the spokesperson added. The Lt Governor interacted with the call centre executives and had a firsthand appraisal of its working, he said.

Murmu asked the officials to ensure comprehensive management of the COVID-19 situation and easy-to-avail access to people thorough the apps and the call centre, the spokesperson said. The Lt Governor was informed that JKCOVID Symptom Tracker Mobile App has been designed on the basis of questionnaires devised by medical experts dealing with COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

The mobile app will reduce the load on medical teams and therefore they can concentrate on COVID-19 symptomatic and positive cases efficiently, the spokesperson said. The call centre has been set up by the Srinagar district administration for comprehensive and seamless management of the COVID-19 situation in the district, he said.

Besides management of the situation, the call centre will also provide one-stop solution to all grievances and needs of the people of the district, who can now call on 6006333308 for all such matters, the spokesperson said. Deputy commissioner, Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary said the magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis needed a central response.

"Our colleagues were working on a unique system. The Lt Governor has dedicated to Srinagar the first Covid response Call Centre," he said. The applications will help in quarantine management system, COVID-19 symptom tracking, Geo-fencing, tracking of quarantined persons and health survey, Chaudhary added.

He said through real-time integrated management system all the operations of quarantine and isolation centres could be monitored from the district control rooms. Chaudhary said the newly launched applications will manage all information about quarantined persons and keep track of various activities regarding their travel, contact history, health check-up, test status, sanitation and shifting.

He said the aim of this initiative is to provide a one-stop solution to matters surrounding the COVID-19 situation in the district. Various helplines made available earlier have now been replaced with this single-stop mechanism, Chaudhary added.