Month: March 2020

Imagine the Indian lockdown without the internet and phones, Now think Kashmir

Editor

At 8 pm local time, on March 24, prime minister Narendra Modi gave 1.3 billion Indians a four-hour notice to confine themselves to their homes for the next 21 days. The national health emergency, to contain the spread of the coronavirus, suddenly plunged the country into uncharted waters, with most people having no experience in navigating them. In these dark times, one place that most Indians can look up to for guidance is Kashmir, with its three decades of experience with such crises. In the restive northern region, drawn closures…

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Complete clampdown across J&K till March 31: Govt

Editor

The government on Sunday extended the shutdown of all establishments in Jammu and Kashmir except essential services till March 31 to block the spread of Covid-19. After reviewing the situation today, Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam directed all the District Magistrates in the Union Territory to ensure the shutdown of all establishments except those providing essential commodities and services in their districts from March 22 till March 31. “The Deputy Commissioners will issue orders under Section 144 CrPC and also under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to shutdown all the establishments…

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#Covid-19: Who needs to get tested for Coronavirus? ICMR issues guidelines

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The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued guidelines for a new testing strategy for effective tracking of Covid-19 cases. The new policy, released late on Friday night, says asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of an infected person should be tested between the fifth day and 14th day of coming into contact with the patient. It also says all patients hospitalized with severe acute respiratory illness (with symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath), all symptomatic health care workers, all symptomatic contacts of those whose laboratory tests —…

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#VIPCulture: VIP Passengers walk out of Srinagar Airport without Covid-19 Screening

Editor

Two Kashmiri students returning from Bangladesh walked out of the Srinagar International Airport on Thursday morning without undergoing the mandatory screening for the Covid-19 infection, courtesy their ‘influential parents’. According to reports, two female MBBS students enrolled at Dhaka Medical College arrived with 30 other students at the Srinagar International Airport in an early morning Indigo flight from Kolkata. All the students were kept at the arrival lounge with 250 other travelers who had flown in from different parts of the country. “While we were speculating administration’s next move, an…

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Panic buying across Kashmir, as valley heading towards another virtual shutdown

Editor

A day after a woman tested positive for coronavirus, Kashmir valley was headed towards a virtual lockdown on Thursday as restrictions were imposed on the movement of people in several parts and all public transport banned in Srinagar city. The area within 300 metres radius of the house of the 67-year-old COVID-19 patient in Khanyar locality has been sealed off and officials of the Health Department are going house to house to check if any of her neighbours have symptoms of the disease, officials said. Security forces have been deployed…

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#Covid19: Coronavirus cases rise to 169 across India, first positive case reported from Kashmir

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The number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 169, reports PTI. The pandemic, described as an “unprecedented threat” by the WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom, has now affected over 2,00,000 people around the world and caused 8,000 deaths globally. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Thursday at 8 PM during which he will talk about issues relating to COVID-19 and the efforts to combat it, the prime minister’s office announced on Wednesday. The border between the US and Canada has been temporarily closed by “mutual consent”…

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NC President and former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah walks free post-seven-month detention

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Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah walked out of his Gupkar residence on Friday, seven months after he was put under detention following the abrogation of Article 370 by the central government. “I am free, I am free,” he said while addressing the media persons gathered outside his home. Abdullah was detained in August last year after the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and bifurcated it into two union territories. “I am grateful to the people of the state…

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#Covid19: Understanding Coronavirus

Editor

Coronavirus first originated in China in December last year but has spread to more than 100 countries and infected over one lakh people. It has also led to the death of more than 3,000 people. Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, is known to kill between 3-4 percent of those it infects. “Covid-19 is not very fatal, but it is very infectious. Since it infects more people, a large number die. In terms of infectivity, it is almost up there with the most infectious measles and chickenpox… We don’t really…

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#Convid19: WHO declares coronavirus a pandemic, All Schools, Colleges, Universities Shut till March 31

Editor

The coronavirus outbreak was Wednesday declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), whose chief expressed his “deep concern” over “alarming levels of inaction” in combating the virus spread. WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold over the past two weeks. However, he clarified that the labeling of it as a pandemic, or disease spreading in multiple countries around the world simultaneously, did not mean the WHO was changing its advice about what countries should do and he called on…

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