Doda administration’s quick response kept coronavirus at bay

Amir Karim Tantray
Tribune News Service
Doda, April 1

It was Doda district administration’s quick response to the growing coronavirus cases in the union territory that has kept the contagion away.

While the state struggles with the contagion—300 coronavirus cases so far, according to government spokesperson Rohit Kansal, with 246 from Kashmir alone and rest from Jammu region—-Doda has reported none.

Officials say all high-risk patients, including those people who are associated with the Tabligi Jamaat congregation that was held in Delhi last month, have tested negative.

Doda is one of the few districts in the union territory to have taken preventive steps in advance. The administration suspended public transport even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lockdown announcement on March 24, and also restricted people’s movements—all steps that officials say helped keep the virus out.

 “At the very onset we stopped vehicular movement on Batote-Kishtwar national highway and only allowed essential goods and emergency services such as ambulances to pass. People who didn’t have passes issued by our office were not allowed to enter or leave the district,” Doda Deputy Commissioner Sagar Dattatray Doifode.

Once the lockdown was announced, administration setup two quick response teams that Tehsildars Shabir Ahmed Malik and Suman Sharma headed to identify and isolate all suspected cases.

These tehsildars had patwaris, lambardars and chowkidars at ground level to help them, and identified around 10,000 people who were put under home and administrative quarantine and were monitored diligently. Those who were seen as high-risk patients were isolated and tested.

“At the beginning, people who recently travelled outside India were kept in administrative quarantine. After that members of Tabligi Jamaat who travelled to Nizamuddin markaz and other areas were tested,” Doifode said.

Even before the lockdown was announced the administration was prepared.

“Before that, we had trained around 3,000 people whose services were used to create awareness in every nook and corner of the district,” DC added.

People also acted as the administration’s eyes—they would supply them with information about anybody they knew had travelled outside the district and the state.

Religious organisations also played their part y keeping crowds away and suspending congregational prayers, officials said.

The district administration’s prompt response has meant that while other parts of the state have been divided into zones for containment, authorities in Doda are considering easing restrictions on movement within the district.