The Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Monday suggested that most people in the Valley do not need to wear masks now due to the low number of Covid cases. The association, while referencing Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention guidelines, said that Kashmir is a low-risk area now.
“Masks can come off in schools too,” said DAK president Dr. Nisar Ul Hassan, in a statement. Dr. Hassan said, “Under new CDC guidelines, masks are not recommended if average new cases fall below 200 per 100,000 population, there are fewer than 10 Covid hospital admissions per 100,000 people over the past one week and Covid patients are taking up less than 10% of available hospital beds based on seven-day average,” he said.
Since February 24, the daily Covid cases in J&K have reduced to double digits and of the 4,838 Covid beds, only one is occupied.
12 Covid cases in J&K
Jammu and Kashmir on Monday logged 12 fresh Covid cases, an official health bulletin said. The third wave of Covid, which peaked in January, has now ebbed with mostly double-digit cases since February 24.
As many as 37 patients recovered, prompting the active cases to drop to 217. The officials said 31,662 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours in the UT.
Kashmir division recorded just three cases and Jammu nine cases. Of the 20 districts, 15 recorded zero infections while five witnessed single-digit cases.
The government’s daily health bulletin also said that 14,872 vaccine doses were administered taking overall doses administered in the UT to cross 2.171 crores.
The overall number of people who have recovered reached 4,48,493 while the recovery rate has reached 98.90%. Since the pandemic started, the overall cases in J&K have reached 4,53,460 and the death toll has stayed at 4,750.
