Srinagar, July 21: An Urdu daily circulated in Jammu & Kashmir's Srinagar took up a unique initiative to promote the practice of wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The daily, Roshni, attached face masks along with the frontpage of the newspapers circulated in the city on Tuesday. Amarnath Yatra Cancelled, J&K Govt Says Pilgrimage Not Possible Under Current Circumstances.

A short message was printed on right side of the front page, asking readers to wear the face mask as it would protect them and their near ones from the risk of contracting coronavirus. Among those who lauded the media outlet's initiative was former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah.

"Such a great initiative by our Urdu newspaper Roshni to affix a mask on the front page of the paper. It drives home the message about mask usage and also takes away the excuse about a mask not being readily available. Well done to whoever came up with this idea," he said.

See Omar Abdullah's Tweet

Jammu & Kashmir, as per the last update issued by the UT health department, had recorded a single-day spike of 751 cases. The overall case count had surged to 14,650. The bulk of infections are centred in the Kashmir Valley.

Out of the 6,122 active infections, 1,207 cases belong to Jammu division and 4,915 cases to Kashmir division. The death toll stood at 254.

In view of the COVID-19 threat, the Amarnath Yatra was cancelled on Wednesday. The annual pilgrimage would not be held, and the tourists who had already left their native states were asked to return.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 21, 2020 09:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).