4 other Distts listed in 2 less affected categories
*Calls for steps to prevent virus spread
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 16: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today declared six districts of Jammu and Kashmir as ‘Hotspot Districts With Large Outbreak’ which included the twin rotational capital cities of the Union Territory-Jammu and Srinagar and classified two other districts in the category of ‘Hotspot Districts with Large Outbreaks’.
The MHA has classified all Coronavirus-affected districts across the country in three different categories, based on which the steps are being taken to prevent further spread of virus and give relaxations to the people during lockdown accordingly especially after April 20.
“Out of six districts of Jammu and Kashmir which have been classified as ‘Hotspot Districts With Large Outbreak’, four are from Kashmir division and two from Jammu,” official sources told the Excelsior. The districts included Jammu and Udhampur in Jammu region and Srinagar, Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara in Kashmir.
Maximum cases of COVID-19 positive patients have been reported from these six districts in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A number of Tablighi-Jamaat activists and their contacts have reported positive in Jammu and Udhampur districts. However, four doctors and a staffer of two hospitals-the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu and ASCOMS Sidhra have also reported positive for Coronavirus but one of the doctors has been successfully treated and discharged.
Strict restrictions were in place in these two districts especially Red Zones and Buffer Zones, where Coronavirus positive patients were putting up.
Shopian district in Kashmir and Rajouri district in Jammu region have been listed as ‘Hotspot Districts with Clusters’.
Three patients were earlier reported as Coronavirus positive in Rajouri district of Jammu region and all of them were contacts of Tablighi Jamaat cadre. However, during past over a fortnight no fresh COVID-19 positive case has been reported from Rajouri district. One of the three positive patients from the district has been treated and sent home from the Chest Diseases Hospital of Jammu.
Two more districts of Jammu and Kashmir have fallen in ‘Non-Hotspot Districts Reporting cases’ category of the Union Home Ministry. They included Ganderbal district of Kashmir and Samba district of Jammu region.
As per the Jammu and Kashmir Government’s official document which is updated daily by the Health Department, Samba district has four active cases of Coronavirus all of which were reported during past one week.
Three of them were Tablighis while fourth is an Army soldier posted in Agra, Uttar Pradesh who had come to his house on leave but had travelled in the same bogey of the train in which the Tablighis were returning from Nizamuddin in New Delhi to Jammu.
The Home Ministry had ordered that the State/Union Territory Government need to conduct exercise for identification of hotspots on weekly basis i.e. every Monday or earlier. Strict containment measures need to be implemented in these hotspots, the MHA order said.
“For ‘Non-Hotspot Districts Reporting Cases’ category, the States/Union Territories need to ensure that containment measures are taken so as to ensure that case in these areas can be contained. States/Union Territories also need to undertake effective surveillance in the districts not having any confirmed cases so far besides ensuring dedicated COVID Hospitals,” the MHA order said.
Six districts in Jammu region don’t have even a single case of COVID-19 positive cases including Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Reasi, Kathua and Poonch. All 54 Coronavirus cases of Jammu region were confined to four districts of Jammu, Udhampur, Rajouri and Samba.
“Containment operation would be deemed over when there is no case reported in 28 days from an area after last case tests negative, Hotspots (designated Red Zones) will be assumed to be undertaking effective containment activities, if no case is reported in next 14 days (designated Orange Zones) and will be deemed successful in containment, if no case is reported for 28 days (designated Green Zones).
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