Category: Union Territory

Today weather will remain partly to generally cloudy in both regions with possibility of light Rain/Snow at scattered places. 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙭𝙩 10 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨: A spell of light Rain/snow likely (60% chance) during 22-23rd. Thereafter, Mainly Dry weather is expected from 24th onwards till ending Jan. There’s 𝙉𝙊 forecast of any Major Snow Spell till ending Jan. 𝙈𝙀𝙏 𝘾𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙍𝙀 𝙎𝙍𝙄𝙉𝘼𝙂𝘼𝙍

Srinagar, Jan 18: A family from Shelipora Achabal in Anantnag along with their relatives on Tuesday staged protest and alleged that their daughter was murdered by her in-laws.

According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) the family accompanied by locals and relatives raised slogans in favour of justice and demanded that the matter must be investigated and strict action must be taken against her in-laws.

Her family members including her father and brother alleged that she was killed by her in-laws over dowry and if her daughter was so ill, they should have informed them.

“We talked with our daughter on Monday evening and she was fine. However, when we later called her, her phone was off,” they said, adding that if her condition would have deteriorated by any means, her in-laws should have informed us.

“Time and again, her in-laws were demanding dowry which we fulfilled, however, they continued to demand more. She has been killed by poison or something else,” the family members allege.

They alleged that even when they reached the hospital, instead of taking her body to their (in-laws) house, they left the hospital and we took the body home.

They along with protestors demanded time bound investigation into the matter and action against the in-laws.

An official said that a 30-year-old lady from Shelipora Achabal who was married at Harnag area of Anantnag was brought dead to hospital.

He said that as per preliminary medical reports, the lady died due to cardiac arrest, however, further investigation is going on and if anyone will be found involved in any way, he will be taken to task as per law—(KNO)

‘Persons getting infected with Omicron are recovering faster than Delta’

Srinagar, Jan 18: Omicron variant known as the most infectious variant of Covid-19 triggering the third wave in J&K is said to have infected large scale of people while experts believe that with Omicron replacing Delta, Covid-19 will not remain a pandemic but an endemic illness.

A Kashmiri doctor Dr Shakeel Ahmad Sofi who is working in Apollo hospital in Kolkata while talking with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that though Omicron is spreading at a very fast speed but it isn’t causing so much severity as it is not involving lungs but only upper respiratory tract.

He said that as it is spreading fast but within 4-6 days people come negative as well and 95 to 99 percent of positive patients don’t even need hospitalization as it is behaving like a common flu.

He said that whether a person will be vaccinated or unvaccinated, it is not going to spare anybody but most people won’t even know when they got infected and when they recovered.

“Omicron is so infectious that if a person comes in contact with a positive patient for just 10 to 20 minutes, he will get infected,” he said, adding that fancy masks are of no use and people must use N 95 and surgical masks.

Sofi added that there is no need to isolate for more than three to four days if there are no symptoms and there is no need to go for repeated tests.

He said that with Omicron replacing Delta, it is the beginning and end of pandemic and Covid will become a seasonal flu.

“People should leave fear of Omicron as today or tomorrow you will get infected but it won’t cause any damage,” Sofi said.

Dr Nisar Ul Hasan Flu expert and president of Doctors association Kashmir while talking with KNO said that the replacing of Delta by Omicron has happened to the good of population and it is mild flu and will help everybody to get immunity due to which we may see an end to this pandemic.

“It won’t help in full elimination of the virus but it will end from pandemic stage to endemic and become 5th respiratory virus of the world,” he said.

He said that the third wave is likely to witness a peak next week and by the end of February the wave will be over—(KNO)

Anantnag, Jan 18: A family on Tuesday staged a protest at Shelipora Achabal here in this south Kashmir district, alleging murder of their daughter by her in-laws over dowry issue.

The family and relatives of the lady, joined by neighbours, hit the street near Shelipora Achabal and demanded action against the in-laws of woman.

Mohd Yousuf Mir, father of the deceased woman, alleged that she killed by her in-laws over dowry. “From time to time, we have been fulfilling their demands of dowry,” he said, adding, “She has been killed there as she was given some poisonous substance.” He said her in-laws left the hospital after she died instead of taking her body to the house for last rites.

Meanwhile, the protesters demanded strict action against the in-laws and said the concerned authorities should act swiftly so that the culprits are brought to book immediately. Police said the 30-year-old woman was brought dead to the hospital and preliminary medical report suggests cardiac arrest as cause of death.

“Further proceedings are underway,” police said. (GNS)

Jammu, Jan 18: Lesser-known outfit ‘Shiv Sena Dogra Front’ believed to be ‘B-Team’ of Bhartiya Janata Party Tuesday carried out a rally amid Covid-19 upsurge in Roop Nagar Jammu, lauding the role of Jammu Development Authority for demolishing the structures of tribal last week.

The protesters said that all the people including Gujjar and Bakarwals should be evicted from the land they have encroached in Jammu.

President ‘Shiv Sena Dogra Front’ Shiv Gupta in response to a volley of questions said that politicians have given patronage to these ‘encroachers’ and these politicians are all involved in land scams. He castigated Mehbooba Mufti for visiting Roop-Nagar to show sympathies with the tribals.

Gupta targeted every political party except BJP saying that due to political intervention in the past encroachers were able to encroach the state land in Jammu.

In response to a question, he said that even the residential house of former Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh should be raised to the ground if it is illegal.

He said Roop Nagar Demolition Drive has snowballed into a controversy due to the interference from politicians.

Pertinently, the demolition drive carried out by Jammu Development Authority last week has drawn flak with most of the political parties terming the drive as a ‘biased’ one aimed at targeting a particular community. (KNT)

New Delhi: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on Monday that although the “most likely scenario” is that Coronavirus will be circulating for many years to come, he believes the current wave of infections will be the final one that requires restrictions, Times of Israel reported.

Bourla gave an interview to French outlet BFM TV to mark the announcement of an investment package by the pharma firm in France.

Bourla also touted the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, saying that he believed people will continue to require booster shots, the report said.

“It’s important that people receive the three-dose regimen of Pfizer’s Coronavirus vaccine, and will likely then require annual boosters although the immunocompromised could require them every four months,” Bourla said, adding: “Children must be vaccinated in order to protect them. Its effectiveness in children is very, very, very good.”

Bourla also said that the company’s anti-Covid pill, Paxlovid, “changes everything” as a new way to fight serious illness.

Pfizer had said in December last year that its Paxlovid pill reduced hospitalisation and deaths in vulnerable people by almost 90 per cent, the report added.

One person (name with held) of Reasi lodged a written complaint on 28th of December 2021 that her daughter (name withheld) age 14 years went outside to fetch milk from shop & didn’t return back. He started searching for her but she could not be found anywhere. Complainant doubted that his minor daughter is kidnapped by some unknown person.

On getting this information case FIR no 245/2021 U/S 363 IPC was lodged at Police Station Reasi and search & investigations started.

Team of Police Station Reasi started finding clues of the kidnapped minor, enquired about her from family, neighbors and family friends. After hectic efforts on the basis of reliable sources the presence of the minor was established in district Poonch after kidnapping committed by Shakeel @Sonu.

Sh Shailender Singh Senior Superintendent of Police Reasi constituted a special team headed by Sub Inspector rank and sent the team to poonch  for  recovery of the minor.

With the help of Poonch Police team lost no time, raided possible places of her presence & recovered the missing minor girl from the house of Shakeel @Sonu S/O Abdul Latief R/O ward no.10, Poonch.
Sensing the approaching Police party accused Shakeel flees the spot and went underground.

Medical examination of the victim was conducted by board of doctors, statement of the minor recorded before judicial Magistrate & all legal procedures completed & girl reunited with family. On the basis of statement of the victim, offences U/S 376 IPC, Sec 4 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act is further established & added in the instant case.

Police team remained on chasing the accused constantly and finally arrested him from Belicharana area of district Jammu.

Shakeel is already married to a girl of Pouni (Reasi) & left her wife in destitution.

Mr Singh conveyed that the case will be investigated thoroughly to minutest of details & charge sheet against the accused will be produced in the court of law within stipulated time. Reasi Police is being regularly briefed to remain sensitive towards crime against women especially minors further appealed that girls should remain aware of such type of fraudsters who remain on the mission of spoiling the life of innocents.

Omicron: Most infectious variant of COVID-19, says experts

Srinagar, Jan 13: Omicron is the most infectious variant of the Covid-19 so far which has triggered a surge in cases in the rest of the world along with Jammu and Kashmir, experts said on Thursday.

Dr Nisar ul Hassan President Doctors Association of Kashmir and flu expert while talking with KNO said that Omicron is the most infectious variant of Covid-19 found so far and once any variant is so infectious it spreads swiftly and involves a large section of the population in a week or few days.

“Covid-19 behaves differently at different places and in different individuals. We are still learning about this and we have to see how it behaves in elderly and Immunocompromised people besides that in the unvaccinated section of people that are children below 15,” he said.

“Omicron is so infectious that it won’t spare anybody and we should presume that it will infect everybody but the good thing is it has a mild impact among around 95 percent of the people infected,” Hassan said.

“Most people have hardly any symptoms or mild symptoms,otherwise the positivity rate at this stage will be more as compared to the official figures,” he said.

Hassan said then when a mild variant is replacing the one which was causing severity, “it may change Covid-19 from pandemic to endemic stage.”

Hassan said that the third wave has erupted and being more infectious we will have a peak, plateau and decline in just a few weeks time unlike delta which took time in reaching peak and then decline.

He said that symptoms of Omicron include fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, sorethroat, runny nose or nasal congestion and hoarseness of voice.

“People must continue with CAB, and go for vaccination and booster doses,” he said.

Omicron variant causes lot of infections, most of the infections are mild. Even though the positivity rate is high, most of the cases do not require hospitalization.

Srinagar, Jan 17: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Monday said lockdown should be decided on the basis of number of patients hospitalized with Covid rather than the number of positive cases.

“Hospitalization rates, not case count should determine curbs and restrictions,” said DAK President and Influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan.

Dr Hassan said the number of cases should not be the metric for imposing restrictions.

“Daily case count was used as a barometer early in the pandemic to impose restrictions because that time a rise in cases inevitably led to increase in hospitalizations,” he said.

“With omicron those metrics have changed now,” said Dr Nisar.

He said while Omicron variant causes lot of infections, most of the infections are mild. Even though the positivity rate is high, most of the cases do not require hospitalization.

The DAK President said we need to recognize that omicron is all around us and it can infect anybody. We no longer need to identify and manage every single case of the variant.

“Case counts have lost relevance; hospitalization numbers are now reliable markers when it comes to assessing the threat from pandemic,” he said.

“We should be shifting our focus on Covid-related hospitalizations, bed occupancy and number of patients on ventilators.”

“That should be the major metric and not cases in deciding about imposing severe restrictions, like lockdown,” he added.

General Secretary DAK Dr Arshad Ali said the reason why we were tracking cases was because we were hoping we could eliminate the virus.

“But it is not in the nature of the virus to get eliminated,” he said adding “we have to live with the virus and it is going to stay with us.”

Spokesperson DAK Dr Riyaz Ahmad Dagga said we have reached a point in pandemic where policy should no longer be based around the idea that we cannot resume normal life until case number is below a particular level.

“These levels were set before vaccination. Setting threshold for activities according to case numbers no longer makes sense,” he said.

“Countries like Canada, Philippines and Singapore are now implementing an approach that is not focused on case counts,” he added.