Strict COVID restrictions imposed to contain pandemic in Kargil

Ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr festival, authorities in Kargil district of Ladakh announced imposition of restriction on all kinds of movement and activities to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, officials said on Tuesday.

The restrictions ordered by Deputy Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, LAHDC-Kargil Santosh Sukhadeve would come into effect from 9 pm Tuesday till 7 am on May 17, the officials said.

However, the order said certain categories including those dealing with essential services and government employees would be allowed to commute to and from after production of valid identity cards.

The unanimous decision to enhance restrictions was taken at a joint meeting of various stakeholders including representatives of religious and political organizations here, they said.

Kargil has recorded 44 COVID-related deaths among the 2,680 positive cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.

While 2,412 patients have recovered from the infection, there are 224 active cases in the district with the majority of them having tested positive for the virus in the past two weeks.

In an order issued this evening, the district magistrate restricted the gathering of five persons and also prohibited all social, political and religious gatherings but allowed attendance of 20 persons in last rites of the dead after seeking prior permission.

The order said public transport would not be allowed to function but tourists travelling to and from outside Kargil by air would be allowed to commute on the production of boarding passes or air tickets.

It said all Kargil bound vehicles including the load carriers and commercial taxis coming from outside would be allowed with strict compliance of COVID-19 SOPs besides the transportation of vegetables, perishables, fuel items from outside and its supply within the district would be allowed on production of relevant proof.

The order also set the timing for shopkeepers dealing with groceries, vegetables, milk and meat.

''Any violations of the instructions shall invite penal action under Section 188 of IPC, Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Epidemic Disease Act, 1897,” the order said.

Earlier, a joint meeting chaired by chairman and chief executive councilor, LAHDC-Kargil Feeroz Ahmad Khan reviewed the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the district and discussed the ways and means to further enhance the level of measures to contain the spread of the virus.

Sukhadeve and Senior Superintendent of Police, Kargil, Anayat Ali Choudhary also attended the meeting which expressed concern over the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country and the grim situation as a result of the second coronavirus wave, the officials said.

Underlining the need to take stringent measures to deal with the situation, Khan said the prevailing situation in the neighbouring union territory of J&K, Leh district as well as recent spike of cases in Kargil district over the past few weeks is a worrisome situation and calls for immediate response measures which if not taken timely may lead to an alarming situation.

Responding to the various suggestions put forth by the participants during the meeting, Khan assured that formal orders for starting of online classes for school students will soon be issued through the Chief Education Officer Kargil while the District Institute of Education and Trainings Kargil will be assigned with the responsibility to ensure smooth running of these classes.

Sukhadeve said stringent measures are required to be taken to avoid COVID-19 impact on the scarcely populated district.

''The district administration is in all readiness to deal with the prevailing pandemic situation and all out efforts are being made to keep the district safe from the deadly coronavirus,'' he said.

In addition to Section 144 CrPC and night curfew, more restrictions are being imposed to prevent any possible exigency, the deputy commissioner said.

He sought cooperation of all the concerned stakeholders and the public in proper implementation of SOPs and guidelines to break the chain of infection.

Regarding the measures being taken by the administration to speed up the process of testing, he said with installation of the new RNA extractor recently, all backlogs up to May 5 have been cleared.

''The RT-PCR laboratory Kargil will now have a capacity of conducting 1,500 tests per day, the reports of which will be made available within 48 hours,'' he said.

Chief Medical Officer, Kargil, Munawar Hussain Wazir said a total of 45,087 eligible persons including healthcare workers and frontline workers have been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccines.

While 30,717 beneficiaries have got the first dose of the vaccine, 14,370 have received the second dose, he said, adding the vaccination is going on smoothly.

Meanwhile, the officials said the representatives of the religious and political organizations, Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members and other stakeholders assured their full support to the administration in ensuring the strict implementation of the SOPs, guidelines and other instructions to contain the spread of COVID-19.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)