Amid a surge in COVID positive cases, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Friday asked the senior Army officials of Northern and Western Commands to explore the possibility of enhancing the capacity at 100-bedded COVID care facilities to 200 beds with oxygen support.

The Lt Governor discussed COVID preparedness and containment measures with the GOC-in-C, Northern Command, Lieutenant General Y K Joshi, and senior Army officials from Northern and Western Commands, here at Raj Bhavan. Lieutenant General S. Hari Mohan Iyer, Chief of Staff, Northern Command, and Major General Neeraj Gosain, GOC 26 Div were present in the meeting.

Lieutanant Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha discussing COVID prepardness with Army commanders
Lieutenant Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha discussing COVID preparedness with Army commanderssocial media

The Lt Governor further asked the officials of Northern Command to collaborate their efforts with Western Command to augment the 100 beds capacity of the COVID care centre at Army Public School Domana, Jammu to 200 beds.

Sinha assured that the J&K government will provide every possible assistance and resource to the Army for enhancing the already existing COVID care facilities in the UT including medical infrastructure, equipment, and oxygen supply.

Equipment being dispatched to Ladakh in Air Force chopper
Equipment being dispatched to Ladakh in Air Force choppersocial media

Army sets up COVID care centres at Jammu, Srinagar

The senior Army officials apprised the Lt Governor about the efforts put up by the Army in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir to combat the pandemic including Western Command's 100-bedded COVID care centre at Army Public School Domana in Jammu; 250-bedded COVID hospital in Kashmir's Rangreth area jointly operationalized by Chinar Corps and Civil Administration. It was informed that treatment of COVID positive cases is also being done at Military hospitals after the referral of the Civil Administration.

 J&K records single-day highest recovery

Although the Union Territory of J&K today witnessed an unprecedented spike in positive cases, the first time single-day highest 2,752 patients were recovered and discharged from various hospitals. Also, 954 COVID patients were recovered from the Jammu division and 1798 from Kashmir Valley, thus taking the tall of the total recovered patients to 1,60,035.

J&K recorded 5,443 new positive cases during the last 24 hours. In addition, 1.868 cases were reported from the Jammu division and 3,575 from Kashmir Valley, thus taking the total number of positive cases in the UT 2,06,954. Also, 50 deaths have been reported, 29 from the Jammu division and 21 from Kashmir province during the same period.