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With more positive cases being detected after testing it is becoming evident that people of Jammu and Kashmir urgently need testing in all red zones. In this direction authorities have moved very little and they feel that their duty ends with informing the people of Jammu and Kashmir about the growing cases of coronavirus, by issuing COVID-19 bulletin every evening.

It is the duty of authorities to go for rapid testing in all the red zones and mere sealing of localities will not help the situation to improve.

LG Murmu in his latest statement has said that 80 thousand rapid testing kits will come soon to be used in the identified red zones. For early detection of COVID-19, rapid testing is must and we are already very late. No one knows when these rapid testing kits will arrive in Kashmir valley and for time being authorities are asking police to enforce lockdown especially in the red zones.

Lt. Governor has said that they have already 17 thousand N95 masks, 13 thousand PPE kits and two hundred ventilators. First of all, all these items are insufficient as we have already 207 cases and among them 168 are in Kashmir valley.

Recently media reports said that one of our hospitals returned back 6 ventilators given by an NGO due to the lack of beds and other equipment. It is not clear yet how these two hundred ventilators would be used by authorities in such a situation.

Only today 23 more cases were found positive in Jammu and Kashmir and the figures are only growing with each passing day. The government will have to rethink and revisit their policy of enforcing only strict restrictions and doing nothing for going house to house in red zones for rapid testing.