AJK PM urges state law makers to strictly follow COVID-19 safety steps

MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan has advised members of the legislative assembly to strictly follow the COVID-19 safety steps during the public meetings.

In his letter, addressed to the members of the AJK Legislative Assembly today, the Prime Minister expressed grave concern over the spread of coronavirus in the region and asked MLAs to take all possible care of them and the public.

Raja Farooq Haider stated that the raise in the COVID-19 positive cases in the last few days was alarming and feared that the situation could further intricate in the next couple of days.

He urged the legislature to help the public awareness about the deadly COVID-19 and its safe steps in their respective constituencies.

Raja Farooq Haider Khan said the government’s issued Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) and Protocols must be implemented and followed in letter and spirit.

The Prime Minister said the government could not afford that elected representatives of the state get affected by the virus due to any carelessness.  Such a situation could affect the government’s performance, he added.

He appealed the people to stay in their homes to protect themselves and their families from coronavirus. He maintained that the citizens should not go out until it is necessary.

The Prime Minister also urged the international community for collective efforts on a global level in order to control the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) registered 16 new positive cases of COVID-19 during the last 24 hours raising the tally to 396 on Monday.

The official statement on the updated situation of the pandemic in AJK by the State Health Services authorities confirmed the registration of 16 new cases in AJK – which include nine from Palandri and seven from Mirpur district.

At present a total of 194 patients tested positive, were receiving treatment in various state-controlled health facilities/isolation centers at present in various parts of the AJK state, the health authorities said.

At the same time, after the complete recovery five more patients were discharged from the health facilities at various parts of AJK on Sunday–raising the total number of the patients discharged so far across AJK to 195, the AJK Health authorities said in the statement.