The COVID-19 vaccination is not on track in Jammu and Kashmir forcing authorities to continue with the night curfew. The pandemic curbs have badly impacted businesses while schools remain shut, despite the announcement by the government that classes work will resume soon.
Nearly 16.5 lakh people who have received the second vaccine dose form only 13 percent of Jammu and Kashmir’s population. The authorities have not been able to fully vaccinate their own healthcare workers and the government employees have also shown hesitancy in undertaking the COVID jabs. Across Kashmir unmasked people and even police personnel and other government officials are a common sighting despite the medical opinion that this could prove to be dangerous as the Delta variant of the COVID has already been detected here.
The vaccination remains slow even in the capital Srinagar where only 1.37 lakh have received a second dose. Health officials admit that not all health care workers have received the COVID shots. In Shopian district, which fares better than other areas in Kashmir, chief medical officer (CMO), Dr Arshad Hussain Tak, said that they have fully vaccinated only 95 percent of the healthcare workers, whereas 43 percent of 18 and above general population has received the jabs. He said that the district was at the number two slot in terms of best-performing ones in Kashmir.
This week in a fresh regulation that was issued by the State Executive Committee, a top-level government body that decides on lockdown measures, the restrictions on both the indoor and outdoor gatherings were kept at 25 people, while the educational institutions continued to remain shut with the possibility of phase-wise opening after 100 percent of vaccination of the staff and students. Basing its decision on the continuous detection of COVID positive cases, the Committee also decided to enforce night curfew from 8 pm to 7 am.
Farhan Kitab, a leading businessman in Kashmir, said the vaccination was the only way to control the disease as is a better preparation of hospitals for a possible third wave. Kitab, who is also the president of Kashmir retailers association, said the sales losses have mounted to 80 percent of the pre-Covid levels. “ There is an overall slump in the economy and measures like restricting the gatherings are having an impact on businesses. The restrictions have also affected marriages which remain a major source of garment and footwear retail business,” he said.
Education authorities however said that they have vaccinated staff and the teachers have also been engaged in surveys to work out statistics of the number of people who remain unvaccinated. Chief education officer, Budgam, Syed Mohammad Amin, said the teachers were also engaged in raising awareness on the need for vaccination.
In Kashmir, though the number of COVID-19 positive cases have seen a decline with 50 infections reported across the region yesterday, doctors have warned that the guard needs not to be lowered.
Farooq Kuthoo, president of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir, said that the night curfew was affecting the business badly. He said while the “high-end” hotels in Kashmir are all sold out, there was still a decline in the business of the budget hotels. “ We have started receiving inquiries from tourists from outside Kashmir, and measures like night restrictions are certainly affecting the business.”
The daytime restrictions across Kashmir have largely been relaxed and social distancing and the use of masks was rarely adhered to. Senior officials in the government have also not been wearing masks while on inspection tours outside or during meetings inside their offices. The pictures released by the government’s department of information and public relations (DIPR) on Twitter show that the masks were rarely used by the government functionaries.
A senior official of the Directorate of Family Welfare (DOFW) said that they have however continued with the awareness campaigns for the vaccination to pick up. The hesitancy towards getting jabbed was both in the rural as well as urban areas, officials said.
The government data indicates that it will however take several months for full vaccination of the population with nearly 70,000 to 80,000 people being vaccinated in the union territory each day. Those relieving the second dose was significantly lower in number. On Monday, across the 20 districts in Jammu and Kashmir 64185 people received the first dose of COVID shot as against 25200 people who were administered the second dose of vaccine.
Health spokesperson, Dr Mir Mushtaq, said that vaccine hesitancy among people has been overcome to a large extent. “ We are involving social media influencers, retired doctors as well as in-service health care workers for motivating people to undergo vaccination. The hesitancy is not so profound as we had encountered earlier,” he said.
from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3gxhaDn
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