Coronavirus | Time for self-imposed civil curfew, say Kashmir doctors

J&K has seen a 10-fold increase in COVID-19 infections in the past three weeks

Senior doctors in the Valley made a frantic appeal to the people on Monday to observe “a self-imposed civil curfew”, as J&K witnessed a 10-fold increase in COVID-19 infections in the past three weeks. “People's movement needs to be restricted and gatherings avoided. There is also a need to make announcements from masjid [mosque] pulpits not to visit religious places without masks. COVID-19 virus is now transmitting fast,” said Muhammad Salim Khan, a nodal officer for COVID-19 at Kashmir's premier government-run Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital, Srinagar. The appeal comes as the government-run main COVID19 hospital, the Chest Diseases Hospital, with around 100 bed capacity, witnessed 90 per cent bed occupancy on Monday by “severely infected patients”.