Even as 16 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the Valley, taking tally to 581 in Jammu and Kashmir, books and stationery shops opened for five hours in the winter capital on Wednesday with the administration allowing controlled business activities in various districts after more than a month-long closure due to the lockdown aimed at preventing the disease, officials said.

The shops, dealing in books and stationery items, opened at Pacca Danga and other parts of the city around 10 am and continued with their operations till 2 pm, facilitating students who have already been promoted to the next class, the officials said.

On April 7, the administration announced mass promotion for the students affiliated with the Board of School Education up to Class 9 and Class 11 across Jammu region but the students could not buy their course books for the next academic session due to the lockdown.

Though the administration and the private schools have started online classes to kick-start the academic session for the students, the slow speed of mobile internet, which is running at 2G speed after its restoration, has proved a big hurdle for the students who complain of not being able to download the content at this speed.
The 2G internet facility on mobile phones was restored in Jammu and Kashmir on January 25 after remaining suspended since August 5 last year following the Centre’s move to abrogate Article 370 provisions and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories — Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

The opening of the book and stationery shops came as a big relief to the students and their parents who were seen collecting the class books though maintaining the social distancing norms.
Our delegation met the District Magistrate (Jammu) Sushma Chauhan who gave permission for limited operation of our shops with certain restrictions, President Book Sellers Association Harish Gupta informed.
He said the student community has suffered immense loss in view of the closure of all educational institutions in the wake of the lockdown and slow speed of the internet.

At least the students can get their books now, he said and demanded free transportation of books and other material from outside Union territory markets for smooth running of their shops.
The authorities in various other districts in the region including Udhampur, Kishtwar and Poonch also allowed limited operation of isolated shops with a request to the customers to maintain social distancing and use face masks while venturing out of their homes.

On Saturday, the administration had permitted opening of select categories of shops in addition to those dealing with essential commodities in rural areas and standalone shops in the urban areas with some conditions amidst the ongoing lockdown.
However, very few shops opened as a majority of the people preferred to stay indoors in view of the coronavirus scare.

Meanwhile, 16 new positive cases of COVID-19, all from Kashmir division, were reported till this evening thus taking the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 581.
While nine new cases were reported from Anantnag district, four came from Budgam and one each from Srinagar, Baramulla and Kulgam districts.
According to the daily Media Bulletin, out of 581 positive cases, 381 are Active Positive, 192 have recovered and eight have died.

The Bulletin said that out of 18450 test results available, 17869 samples have tested as negative till April 29, 2020. Till date 68846 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases have been enlisted for surveillance which include 6440 persons in home quarantine including facilities operated by government, 244 in Hospital Quarantine, 381 in hospital isolation and 8663 under home surveillance. Besides, 53110 persons have completed their surveillance period.

In Srinagar, 38 shops were sealed for violating closure orders issued in view of COVID-19 outbreak. Up to 6:00 PM, 28 shops were sealed in Tehsil Shalteng, five in Tehsil South, three in Tehsil Chanpora and two in Tehsil North.

Twelve vehicles were also seized in Tehsil Khanyar for moving without permission or need. Action was also taken in Tehsil Eidgah where violators were fined and a total of around Rs 10,000 was collected as fine there from.