Jammu and Kashmir has emerged 'as good as Kerala' in fighting coronavirus: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said Jammu and Kashmir has emerged "as good as Kerala" in fighting coronavirus and appreciated the medical fraternity for effectively dealing with the disease in the union territory.

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He reviewed the preparedness of J-K in combating COVID-19 through video conferencing with senior J-K union territory officers, heads of government medical institutions and colleges, according to an official communique.

The Minister of State for Personnel complimented the medical fraternity of the union territory, especially the junior resident doctors and medical officers, who directly deal with patients for effectively fighting the coronavirus.

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Singh said India has emerged as one of the frontline nations of the world to combat COVID 19.

"He said J-K has emerged as good as Kerala state in fighting the pandemic," the Personnel Ministry statement quoting the minister said.

Singh also re-emphasised the use of Arogya Setu app in combating the COVID 19.

He said the government was very concerned for the safety of the medical and healthcare workers and for this reason, the ordinance for protection of health care workers has been implemented.

"On the UTs request for augmenting the availability of standardized Personal Protection Equipments (PPE) kits and other equipment, the minister said the UT will be getting regular supply of PPE and testing kits for coronavirus," the statement said.

Making a presentation on the preparedness of the UT, financial commissioner, department of health, Atal Dulloo informed that till date, there have been a total of 434 positive cases in the union territory.

Out of this, 57 are from Jammu and 377 from Kashmir, he said.

The minister was informed that J-K is second only to Delhi in the whole country in testing cases per million of population. The J-K is testing 818 persons per million population.

About 80 zones in Kashmir and 15 in Jammu have been declared as containment zones. Dulloo said dedicated hospitals have been set up in the UT to deal with all categories of cases.

Jammu and Kashmir has also re-employed 126 retired doctors, de-contamination tunnels are being set up in hospitals and walk-in sample collection booths have been set up, the statement said, adding that all frontier personnel have been provided with masks and safety kits.

The minister was informed that meetings have been held with religious leaders and videos are also being circulated, asking people to cooperate and pray at homes it said.

AYUSH drugs and medicines are being distributed to all frontline staff and people to boost their immunity, the statement added.