The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Bandipora, Dr Owais Ahmad on Tuesday briefed media about the Covid-19 situation in the district and appealed the people to continue to follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) besides urging the un-vaccinated persons to get vaccinated at earliest. Dr Owais said the pandemic is not over yet and any carelessness can lead us into trouble again. He said there are only two ways to fight the pandemic including adopting CAB and vaccination. He urged people to continue to follow CAB by using masks, maintaining social distance and ensuring personal hygiene. He said CAB and SOPs are vital to prevent any spike in infections and cautioned against any complacency on part of the stakeholders so that the virus is kept at bay and its spread is curtailed further. Dr Owais appealed to the people not to lower their guard and asked them to follow guidelines so that administration is not forced to take action against violators.He said that the vaccination process is going on in full swing and appealed to the unvaccinated people to get vaccinated at an earliest.
He said the Covid-19 situation is improving gradually and recovery rate is improving owing to extensive testing in containment zones and vaccination drives launched at a large scale in the district.Giving details, Dr Owais said there are 40 active positive cases as on date in the district. He said 23 new cases were detected in the last one week as a few clusters came up. He said the administration is closely monitoring these areas and taking appropriate measures to check the spread. Regarding vaccination, Dr Owais said more than 80 percent of the 18-44 YO Age group has been administered the first dose of vaccinate While 38 percent of the eligible population has been provided the second dose too. The DC said the extensive testing has helped the administration to keep check on the spread of the virus as immediate measures as per the given SOPs are taken. He said 3.90 lac tests have been conducted so far and the positivity rate has been 0.4 to 0.3 percent. He appealed to people to get themselves tested in case they feel any symptoms so that they can take proper care and isolate to save others from getting infected.He said the fatigue factor has led to violation of CAB and that it can prove dangerous for future and hence there is a need to sensitize people again and tell them that the pandemic is not over yet and any violation in CAB may lead to another wave.