Srinagar, Apr 09 : With the imposition of night curfew in Jammu and Kashmir, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday said the move won’t stop the spread of Covid-19 infection.
“It beats logic to have restrictions at night when most of the crowds are during the day,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan.
“One wonders how night curfew will help in curbing the spread, when people go about their business during the day hours,” he said.
“We have no night life in Kashmir. There is no movement at all during the night hours. Life comes to a standstill in the night.”
“All activities happen during the day and that is the time when virus transmission occurs,” DAK President said.
“It is during daytime that huge crowds are seen in markets, large gatherings are seen at social and public functions which is the main cause behind the spread of Covid-19 infection in the community.”
“Kashmir is reeling under the grip of a raging second wave of Covid-19 with surge in number of cases and hospitalizations too,” he said.
“J&K Government yesterday has announced imposition of night curfew from April 09 in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.”
“The virus does not take rest during the day and becomes active during the night. It doesn’t work like that,” Dr Nisar said.
“There is no data to support the use of night curfew to reduce the virus transmission.”
“Even union health ministry has written to states like Maharashtra that night curfew has not much impact on virus transmission.”
“Instead of applying night curfew, we need to make people understand that corona is still here and they need to be cautious,” he said.
“Things like masking mandate, not allowing gatherings and improving ventilation in public places are all effective tools to stem the transmission of the virus.”
“And key is to ramp up the vaccine drive and inoculate as many people quickly as possible,” he added.
“Also, the focus must remain on tracking, testing and isolation of cases.”
“If we pursue these measures very aggressively, we may be able to control the situation soon.
And, if we slipup on any of these measures, we will be down on a slippery slope for some months to come,” said Dr Nisar.