Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today called for universal usage of masks to contain the spread of Coronavirus. He was chairing a high level meeting of Administrative Secretaries at Raj Bhavan, Jammu to review the efforts of Government for management, containment and prevention of COVID-19. <br />''<br />''The meeting was informed that the health department has sufficient stock of protective equipment including masks for distribution among frontline workers and efforts are being made to scale up the production by involving Self Help Groups and private entrepreneurs locally. <br />''<br />''Further, it was decided that as a preventive measure, the Government shall facilitate the availability of masks for all the people in the Union Territory. LG outlined that so far the UT has been able to control the spread of virus due to pro-active participation of people; however a sustained awareness campaign among the people is imperative to bring about a behavioral change in society while breaking the chain of spread. <br />''<br />''He directed for involving religious/social leaders, PRIs and Urban Local Bodies functionaries to facilitate awareness and encourage people to take ayurvedic immunity boosters for self care during the COVID-19 crisis. The LG directed Housing and Urban Development Department to install decontamination tunnels across all hospitals on priority and other important public places with high footfall. <br />''<br />''He also insisted for carrying out massive fumigation and sanitation drives across the UT. In an effort to break the chain,  LG asked for intensifying contact tracing campaign especially of people who had recently attended a religious congregation at Delhi. He directed for conducting 100 percent testing of such people and their contacts to control the spread of Coronavirus in J&K. He also directed to ensure that industrial units involved in manufacturing activities of seed, fertilizer, cattle feed etc. are allowed to function and ensure smooth transportation of essential commodities, especially perishable goods across and outside the UT. <br />''<br />''LG directed for issuing all necessary instructions to the banks to ensure smooth disbursement of DBT amount, cash flow in ATMs and maintaining social distancing norms in all their premises. The LG called for effective mobilization of volunteers and preparing database of such people so that they may be provided basic health training before deploying them in COVID-19 mitigation measures. <br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The LG stressed on high importance of mapping all the old age homes, juvenile homes and orphanages so as to provide them with sustained supply of ration and other provisions, besides establishing help-lines and conducting health checkups on regular basis. He further, asked the officers to send a team of doctors for regular checkup of migrant labourers putting up in various camps.</span><br />