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India Covid crisis: Jammu and Kashmir declares Srinagar as 'red zone'

Srinagar - Srinagar and three other districts are under curfew till Thursday, which is likely to be extended.

With the Covid-19 situation turning grimmer by the day in Jammu and Kashmir, the administration has declared Srinagar district as a ‘red zone,’ along with two other places.

J&K has recorded over 45,000 infections and nearly 300 deaths in April, the highest so far. Monday saw the highest single-day spike of 51. Active cases have shot up to 32,421.

The government of the union territory has set up a five-member crisis management group headed by the chief secretary to monitor the grim situation. Manoj Sinha, the Lt-governor, has also extended the services of all doctors and medical staff till December.

According to covidkashmir.org, which monitors the cases in the union territory (UT), the recovery rate, which was above 90 per cent in the first week of April, has dropped to a little over 81 per cent now. For every 100 tests in J&K, about three have tested positive. Experts have warned that the UT will record over 5,000 cases daily very soon.

Srinagar and three other districts are under curfew till Thursday, which is likely to be extended with the continuing rise in Covid cases, said a government spokesperson. The city has 940 isolation beds, and 227 were vacant on Monday. However, of the 82 ICU beds, just 11 were vacant.

Bashir Nadwi, who runs an NGO in Srinagar, described it as “an unprecedented situation” in the UT. “I am witness to months of street agitations, worked during the 2014 floods and saw the 2005 earthquake but this is more depressing and the situation is much graver,” Nadwi told The Hindu newspaper at his Srinagar office.