Shopian’s Hirpora shows how to steer clear of Covid

Shopian’s Hirpora shows how to steer clear of Covid

SRINAGAR: Hirpora village in Shopian district, where about 2,000 people live, has come out unscathed from the second wave of Covid-19.
Chief Medical Officer Shopian, Dr Arshid Ahmad Tak, told Kashmir Reader that only 12 persons were reported as Covid positive in Hirpora, all of whom had travelled to outside J&K. At present, there are no positive cases, despite an aggressive testing campaign, Dr Tak said.
Not only that, the administration has achieved 100 percent vaccination of people above 45 years in Hirpora, Dr Tak said.
Last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic started, Hirpora village, where the famous Mughal Road market is situated, was the epicentre of the respiratory illness in the district. Dr Tak said that this village had the second-highest number of Covid-19 positive cases in the valley during the first wave.
“After the first case last year, we started an aggressive Covid-19 awareness drive, which yielded results this year. People religiously followed Covid appropriate behaviour, wore masks, maintained distance, and hygiene,” he added.
Now the focus is on vaccinating those above 18 years of age, he said.
Shopian had been among the first districts in J&K where Covid restrictions were lifted completely, on all 7 days a week. It was also the first district where full vaccination for those 45 years and above was achieved. It has also been the minimally affected district in the valley by Covid-19.
Since the outbreak of Covid last year, Shopian has recorded a total of about 6,000 cases and 60 deaths.
All this has been achieved when the entire district had only 100 Covid designated beds at its district hospital, plus some few beds at the peripheral health centres, when the second wave of Covid was at its peak. At around the same time, Srinagar had more than 1,000 designated oxygen-supported beds.
Dr Tak said that work on establishing three oxygen plants, which will increase supply capacity to 3,000 litres per minute, is on, and soon they will be ready for use.

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