255 more Kashmiris sent home from Kathua
* 3 escape from quarantine centre in Kathua
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 5: No COVID-19 positive case was reported from Jammu region and the Union Territory of Ladakh today while a 95-year old man died at a quarantine centre in Udhampur but he was among 45 persons of the district who were tested negative for Coronavirus.
The 95-year old man kept under administrative quarantine in a hotel in Udhampur town for being contact of positive Coronavirus patient hailing from village Magaini died last night at the quarantine centre.
However, report of the deceased old man was received this morning and he was found negative for COVID-19
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His body was shifted to the District Hospital for post-mortem and then sent to his village Magaini for burial.
“The man was asymptomatic and was shifted to one of the best available quarantine facilities (a hotel in Udhampur town) given his age and close contact with the positive case, who happened to be a Tablighi Jamaat cadre. He did not have any major health problem except old-age related issues,” sources said.
Death of the old man seems to be natural, they added.
Brother of the deceased was also under quarantine as he too had come in contact with a positive patient.
Three persons of village Magaini have so far tested positive for COVID-19.
Sources said all contacts of Coronavirus patients are being kept under administrative quarantine and not home quarantine.
Meanwhile, 45 reports of district Udhampur have been received by the administration since last evening and all of them were negative.
Three persons from Narsoo village in Udhampur tested positive for Coronavirus yesterday and were admitted in the SMGS Hospital of Jammu as two of them were children. Following this, Narsoo and Chunti villages of Udhampur district have been declared as Red Zones and their surrounding villages as Buffer Zones.
Jammu region has 21 positive cases for COVID-19 and three of them have been treated and discharged. There are only 18 active cases of Coronavirus in the Jammu region now.
In the Union Territory of Ladakh, there were only four active cases of Coronavirus now as 10 others have been treated and discharged from the hospitals.
Civil, police and health administration have appealed to the people to cooperate with the Health Department teams which were going to take contacts of positive Coronavirus patients for quarantine and sample testing.
The appeal comes as some people were refusing to cooperate and the administration had to take police help to send the people for quarantine and sample testing who had come in contact with COVID-19 positive patients.
“It is in the interest of people especially those who have come in contact with Coronavirus positive patients to facilitate their quarantine and sample testing by the Health teams,” sources said, adding they shouldn’t hesitate from quarantine and testing.
Any delay in testing, they said, could lead to spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, three youth test night fled from quarantine centre at Radha Soami Ashram near Sanji Morh in Ragbagh area of Kathua district along with one laptop, three mobile telephones and Rs 6000 cash of other people, who were also kept for quarantine at the same centre.
The youth, who has come from Ludhiana, had shown their identity as Vishal Kumar, Ravi Kumar and Paramjit Singh of Jhiri, Kanachak in Jammu.
They had given wrong mobile numbers at the time of registration.
Police parties led by SHO Rajbagh Inspector Manjit SIngh have launched searches to nab the accused.
Meanwhile, Police team of Ramgarh brought back a person immediately after he escaped from the quarantine centre and registered a case against him.
Acting on the information about escape of one person from the quarantine centre at Radha Soami Ashram Thandi Khui, police him within no time.
He was identified as Showket Ahmed Malik S/o Ghulam Hassan Malik R/o Waisu, tehsil Handwara, district Kupwara. A case has been registered against him.
Meanwhile, 255 more people from Kashmir were today released from quarantine centres in Kathua district and allowed to go homes.
With this, a total of 893 people from the Valley have been released from different quarantine centres in Kathua district and sent home, Deputy Commissioner Kathua OP Bhagat said.
He added that nearly 2500 patients were still left in the quarantine centres of the district.
“From tomorrow, we will also gradually allow people from Jammu region to proceed home after completion of quarantine in the district,” Bhagat said.
Meanwhile, lending its support to the administration in the fight against Coronavirus, the Army today said it has opened its Command Hospital in Udhampur to test samples of suspected cases.
The hospital is fully equipped to deal with patients infected with the disease and many Wards have been converted into corona-specific intensive care units, Commandant of the hospital Maj General S C Gupta said.
“We have always emerged victorious in the wars against our enemies. This time our fight is against COVID-19 and the Command Hospital is fully prepared to register its victory over the disease as well,” he said.
Maj Gen Gupta said the Army responded swiftly to the request of the civil administration in accordance with its tradition to assist the Government to meet any eventuality.
“The civil administration approached us on April 1 and without wasting any time, we started testing from the next day and so far 68 samples were tested at the Command Hospital,” he said.
He added that the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Command Hospital was recently validated and approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for testing.
Maj Gen Gupta said many Wards have been transformed into Corona-specific ICUs at the hospital to tackle the cases of COVID-19.
“We have transformed many Wards into isolation units with adequate number of ventilators, multi-para monitors and oxygen concentrators. These Wards with 100 bed capacity have been turned into Corona-specific ICUs,” he said.
The Army officer said a team of specialists has been assigned the job to handle the suspected cases while adequate number of hazard suits, N-95 masks and protective equipment have been procured for healthcare workers.
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