JOIN USCOVID-19: Eight more test positive in J&K; tally at 70
With eight more COVID-19 positive cases detected in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the total tally in the Union Territory touched 70.
The new positive cases include five from Jammu region and three from Kashmir, an official statement said. So-far 170677 persons have been put under observation which includes 10694 in-home quarantine, 622 in hospital quarantine and 4109 home surveillance. Two persons have died of the disease while three others have recovered.
Reports said five persons, who were tested positive in Jammu, include father, wife and servant of an already COVID-19 positive doctor of the Microbiology Department in the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu. However, the mother of the doctor was tested negative.
In Jammu region, nearly 50 more Tablighi Jamaat members, including 10 Rohingyas, have been traced and sent for quarantine across. Police have also registered FIR under Section 188 against a religious preacher and an outsider from Uttar Pradesh for hiding travel history in Ramgarh police station of Samba district in Jammu.
Civil and police authorities across Jammu and Kashmir continued searches to trace Tablighi Jamaat cadre, who had attended the organization's Nizamuddin (New Delhi) congregation.
Meanwhile, authorities in Srinagar declared Chattabal area in the city as a red zone after four COVID-19 patients were detected there recently. The red zone will comprise the administrative boundary of the residential colony where the cases had been detected and an additional five km radius, District Administration Srinagar tweeted.
J&K government principal secretary and spokesperson Rohit Kansal said many of the positive cases could be traced as a result of a vigorous contact tracing exercise undertaken by the administration. “Hot spots would need to be isolated and sealed and movements fully restricted,” he said while appealing people for their cooperation in this exercise.
He revealed that Jammu and Kashmir has also been testing cases aggressively and it was among the first to start testing locally through four testing centres. “Our testing rate has been nearly 77.5 per million, one of the highest in the country and next only to Kerala. We have decided to further increase it. To begin with, we plan to test every single one of the 2000 contacts that we have identified,” Kansal said.
The government spokesperson said that the strategy of aggressive tracing and increased testing will continue. He said that in order to achieve the concerned authorities have well-defined protocols for quarantine, isolation and restrictions on movement.