Srinagar: With exponential rise in Covid-19 cases over the past fortnight, doctors in Kashmir expressed their concern saying that the second wave could prove more dangerous for youngsters and its transmission was much higher leaving no space for any sort of complacency.
Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing an upsurge in Covid-19 cases over the past two weeks. The government has taken a slew of measures to curb the infection including night curfew and shutting down of all educational institutions across Jammu and Kashmir. But there is no let-up in fresh Covid cases.
Nodal Officer for Covid-19 at Government Medical College Srinagar Dr Saleem Khan told Kashmir Reader that the fresh wave of Covid was mostly affecting young people with high transmission speed.
“The fresh wave of Covid is affecting youngsters, this is the new trend. Last year, mostly the elderly people and people with co-morbidities were getting infected but this year its sweeping at large leaving no one spared. The situation is alarming and worrying. Although, it isn’t same like other states,” he said.
Due to its high-transmission speed, Khan said, cluster transmission has gone up as the virus was spreading rapidly and taking as more people under its deadly garb.
“Earlier, if a family member would test positive, his rest of the family was left to assist him. But now, we are witnessing a different situation, entire family gets involved in the virus in one go. This severity of the virus is also high as it had started to affect all age groups with the same intensity and impact,” Khan said.
He requested the people to adopt Covid-appropriate behaviour in their lives and prevent themselves and their family from this fresh wave.
The senior doctor also called upon stakeholders including traders, transporters and employees to play their role in getting a breakthrough for this fresh wave.
President Doctors Association Kashmir Dr Suhail Naik seconded him saying Kashmir was passing through a very critical juncture and people need to adopt Covid appropriate behavior including ensuring wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.
“We are facing a very challenging situation due to the sudden rise in Covid-19 cases. People need to rise against the tide by ensuring compliance of all precautions including masks and social distancing. There is no space left for complacency now, either we act sensibly or we face the harsh implications. There has been a huge jump in cases, this is extremely worrisome,” Suhail told Kashmir Reader.
However, he complained that the testing was not being done at a fast pace.Due to which, he said, the daily number of cases cannot be assumed accurate. “The situation is much worse than the cases show. Testing process is slow, far slower than the previous year. Contract tracing too isn’t being conducted properly. We’re not testing in accordance with what the situation demands. Government needs to pace up testing and contact tracing. This is the only way we can curtail the spread of virus to some extent,” he added.
He requested the government to ensure strict compliance of Covid-19 measures, which have been taken over past few days, in letter and spirit. “This is not the time to advice, it’s time to enforce. If the spike continues, after a month, we’ll see 3000 cases per day,” Dr Suhail added.

KALEEM GEELANI