The Jammu and Kashmir administration has announced 50 per cent attendance for employees of government officers in the Union Territory (UT) to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
J&K witnessed another grim day on Monday with 73 people, including 54 from Jammu and 19 from Kashmir, losing their lives to Coronavirus, the highest-ever daily fatalities since the outbreak in the Union Territory. As many as 3,344 new positive cases were also reported in the Union Territory, which has witnessed an acute shortage of COVID vaccine, particularly in Kashmir, during the last over 10 days.
An order issued by the administration said that all the officers of the level of Under Secretary and above shall attend office on all working days. “With a view to ensure adherence to social distancing norms in government offices across J&K, all Head of the Departments shall prepare a roster so as to ensure that 50 per cent of the staff attends office on every alternate day,” it said.
It further said that the staff which is not required to attend office on a particular day, shall work from home and shall be available on telephone and electronic means of communication. “This order shall not apply to officers in Civil Secretariat and move offices where staff has already been split by half,” it said.
“Bio-metric attendance shall continue to be suspended till further order,” the order added.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday extended the ‘COVID curfew’ by another week till May 24 in all 20 districts in the Union Territory though essential services were exempted from the lockdown. This was the fourth successive extension of COVID curfew in the valley since April 29. The extension in lockdown has come in the backdrop of unabated rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in J&K, particularly the summer capital, Srinagar, which has recorded the major chunk of positive cases during the last over a month
