3 new cases in Udhampur distt of Jammu, 10 in Valley
Quarantine beds capacity raised to 35,000, treatment to 2400: Kansal
UT’s testing rate higher than many other States
Two dozen flee from quarantine centre in Srinagar, brought back
Sanjeev Pargal/ Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Mar 28: Jammu and Kashmir today witnessed single day highest Coronavirus cases in the Union Territory with 13 persons testing positive including 10 in the Valley and three in Udhampur district of Jammu region taking total to 33, one of whom has died and two recovered so far while 30 cases are active even as the Government increased capacity of quarantine beds to 35,000 and dedicated treatment beds to 2400 to meet with any eventuality in view of surge in the cases.
Government spokesman and Principal Secretary Planning Development and Monitoring Department Rohit Kansal told the Excelsior tonight that number of COVID-19 positive cases has swelled to 13 in Jammu and Kashmir, the highest ever single day jump of 13 as the Coronavirus patients till last night in the Union Territory was 20.
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“Hardly do I finish my press briefing-28-cases-that I get more unpleasant news-5 new positive cases-2 in Srinagar, 3 in Jammu-all contacts of previously positive ones; All Jammu cases asymptomatic. We are at 33 new,” Kansal tweeted.
Deputy Commissioner Udhampur Piyush Singla told the Excelsior that all three persons who were tested positive in Udhampur district were immediately shifted to Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu under due protocol and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) set by the Government.
Singla said the areas where three persons were putting up have been sealed and are being contained. One of the positive patients hailed from Udhampur town, second from Magaini Garhi and third from Basantgarh, presently putting up at Ramnagar.
“Two of them had travel history to Indonesia and trio had also come in contact with Manjakote (Rajouri) resident, who has already been tested positive for COVID-19,” Singla said, adding that their contacts are being identified and will be traced for testing. He said the persons who hailed from Udhampur and Ramnagar were already under home quarantine. Two of them had returned after pilgrimage from Indonesia and travelled in a train from New Delhi to Jammu with one of the positive patient hailing from Manjakote. Third person has travelled with them in train from Ludhiana to Jammu.
“Their contacts will be identified, isolated, tested and quarantined,” Singla said.
The Deputy Commissioner Udhampur warned strict action against the persons who are hiding their travel history and appealed the people who have returned from foreign countries and Ladakh region after March 1, 2020 and have not disclosed their travel history, to come forward and register their names within two days so that they can be quarantined well in time.
Singla said the district administration has deputed teams on ground for tracking such people. “After two days, if anybody is found hiding his/her identity, he/she will be dealt with strictly and FIR will be lodged against such violators”, he added.
Meanwhile, 10 persons who were tested positive for COVID-19 today in Kashmir include a 56-years-old man from Jawahar Nagar Srinagar who has travel history of Indonesia, and four persons, aged between 28 to 35 years, from Hajin area of Bandipora district who had come in contact with the 65 year-old man who died due to Coronavirus on Thursday.
The other is a couple, a 45-year-old man, and his wife, 40, from Ahmad Nagar Srinagar. They had returned from Mumbai and got infected there. Another one is from Chadoora area of Budgam district. He had history of travel to Saudi Arabia.
One person is 62 year old man from Tangmarg area of Baramulla district who has no travel history but had come in contact with one of the positive cases.
The tenth man who tested positive is 26 year old from Rajpora area of Pulwama district who was admitted to SKIMS Soura in isolation ward.
All the 10 people who tested positive in Kashmir today are admitted in Chest Diseases Hospital in Srinagar, which has been declared as COVID-19 hospital, and SKIMS Srinagar.
With these 13 fresh cases, the tally of COVID-19 patients in the Kashmir region has gone up to 24 and one of them, the 65-year-old man from Hyderpora, originally a resident of Sopore, died on Thursday and in Jammu it has gone up to 9.
One of them, a 67-year-old woman who was first COVID-19 patient in Valley, has recovered at SKIMS Soura, the Valley’s only tertiary care hospital. One person died so far, two have recovered, so there are 30 active cases in J&K.
Two contacts of the man who died few days ago due to COVID-19, with no travel history have tested positive so far. “There were a total of 81 contacts of the person who died. 10 were high risk while as 71 were low risk; 11 of his close contacts were tested, 2 have tested positive for COVID-19,” Dr S M Qadri told Excelsior.
He said his son; daughter, daughter-in-law, a maid and a servant including six children in the family were quarantined shortly after the deceased was tested positive for COVID-19.
And Chief Medical Officer, Shopian Dr Sanullah Bhat was today admitted to Chest Diseases hospital Srinagar after he was found symptomatic. He was at the forefront in the fight against Coronavirus and had attended several meetings in the district for last over a week. He developed symptoms today and was shifted to CD hospital in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, the J&K Government today raised capacity of quarantine beds in the Union Territory to 35,000 and dedicated treatment beds for Coronavirus patients to 2400, Government spokesman and Principal Secretary Planning Development and Monitoring Department Rohit Kansal said through a 15 minutes video recorded media briefing.
“The J&K UT’s testing rate is over 10 percent of those under surveillance. This is higher than many States of the country. We urge people to cooperate fully and don’t panic,” he said.
“We now have an administrative quarantine facility of over 35,000 beds in J&K with over 6,500 beds in Jammu, 10,000 in Srinagar and 1,000 beds in each of the other districts,” he added.
He said the Government has already earmarked 11 hospitals — eight in Kashmir and three in Jammu — as exclusive COVID-19 hospitals with 2,400 treatment beds.
Of these beds, 1,300 are in Kashmir and 1,100 in Jammu, Kansal said, adding that “we are planning to upgrade 1,000 more quarantine beds”.
On the request of the medical fraternity, he said the Health department has made arrangements for lodging and boarding to be exclusively used by medical professionals both in Srinagar and Jammu.
“Similarly, the Health department is also procuring personal protective equipment, ventilators and all other necessary equipment,” Kansal said.
For the past three to four weeks, the administration is closely monitoring and reviewing this “extraordinary” situation and taking necessary preventive measures accordingly, the spokesperson said.
“Like in the rest of the country, J&K has also seen a spurt in the cases of Coronavirus for the past week or so,” he said.
Kansal said the teams are consistently and aggressively trying to trace every single contact of the positive cases and are taking samples for tests.
“Tracing out every single contact of the positive cases is critical in breaking this chain transmission. Of the 28 cases, 11 in Kashmir could be traced to a single religious congregation and another six to another single group which had travelled to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“We are getting reports that among these positive cases one had suppressed his travel history to Dubai. This is not the only case where the suppression of travel history has taken place,” he said.
Kansal appealed to the people to disclose their travel history voluntarily and also report any symptoms of the Coronavirus at medical facilities.
“Any kind of hiding travel history, especially overseas, can extremely be dangerous first for the family, neighborhood and finally, for the community as a whole,” he said highlighting the need for self-declaration and self-reporting.
He assured its people that there is no need to panic as adequate stocks of essential commodities are available in the Union Territory.
“We are faced with an extraordinary situation due to the Coronavirus outbreak…I want to assure that there is no shortage of essential commodities and the supply line for essential items like drugs is working smoothly,” Kansal said.
He said facilitation passes have been issued or are being issued to ensure smooth operation of wholesalers and retailers dealings in essential items.
“This is not an ordinary time. We are in difficult times and there might be some inconvenience or constraint in some form or the other. But we need to stand together and work together to break the (Coronavirus transmission) chain,” Kansal said.
He appealed to the people to follow the advisories being issued by the Health department from time to time and stay indoors while maintaining social distancing. “Come forward immediately if there is any symptom and cooperate with the teams on the ground.”
On the students and labourers stranded outside the Union Territory, the Government spokesperson said “This is a period of lockdown and long distance travel from one part to another party of the country is not possible.
“The Jammu and Kashmir administration has already set up a 24×7 helpline in Delhi for the benefit of the local students, while another helpline is being set up for the labourers who are also outside Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
He said appeals have been made to all governments in other parts of the country to take care of the students and migrant labourers from Jammu and Kashmir who are stranded there.
“We are taking care of all such people including migrant labourers who happen to be in Jammu and Kashmir. Likewise, other state governments will come forward and lend their support and assistance to those J&K residents who happen to be there,” he said
Meanwhile, with total of three positive Coronavirus cases reported from Manjakote tehsil in Rajouri district, District Magistrate Rajouri Mohammad Nazir Sheikh today declared Sarola, Dehridhara, Mangal Nar, Gambir Muglan and Kotli villages of Manjakote as Containment/Red Zones and all surrounding villages as Buffer Zones under National Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Diseases Act thus, restricting both inward and outward movement of all persons from the villages.
The District Magistrate has asked people of these villages to stay at their homes.
“There will be no vehicular movement in Rajouri-BG road. The civil and police authorities will ensure supply of essential commodities as per laid down protocols. They will also provide essential commodities to the outside labourers. The people violating the directions will be booked under the law,” the DM Rajouri said.
Meanwhile, police have registered 337 FIRs and arrested 627 persons for violation of lockdown orders imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said.
And Government today terminated a doctor and suspended another for negligence in their duties towards COVID-19 suspects admitted at JLNM Hospital Rainawari in Srinagar after hospital quarantined patients fled early today.
“You were asked to attend your duties immediately, keeping the view the prevailing disaster the Covid-19 outbreak in Valley which you failed to comply with and it created lot of inconvenience to the patients and hospital administration. Hence your contractual services hired as Microbiologist are hereby terminated with immediate effect,” read the order of DHS Kashmir about the microbiologist, Dr Mariya.
Another doctor has been suspended. She has been identified as Dr Safina Gul, daughter of NC leader and former speaker of J&K Assembly Mubarak Gul.
Earlier, around two dozen people today fled from the quarantine at JLNM Hospital, Rainawari. All of them contacts of a person from Chattabal area of Srinagar who was tested positive for the COVID-19, this morning created ruckus at the hospital alleging inadequate facilities in quarantine.
They broke doors and window panes and ran away from the hospital but were brought back later. They included 14 women and 12 men from Chattabal and Batamaloo whose relative tested positive yesterday.
An official said that they were dissatisfied with the facilities that were being offered to them while in quarantine at the hospital.
Soon after the incident, the police swung into the action and managed to trace them all and they were later brought back to the facility.
“They wanted to go home and broke out; it was a mob that we could not control and later were brought back by the police,” Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Zakir Ahmad told Excelsior.
In the meantime, restrictions across Kashmir continued for the 10th consecutive day today. They were imposed last week after the positive case of deadly Coronavirus was detected in the Valley.
The streets continued to be deserted and only people with emergencies were found out besides people on essential duty.
Police and paramilitary forces were deployed in strength today who enforced the restrictions across the Kashmir to prevent Coronavirus outbreak.
Police today booked and arrested several people for violating prohibitory orders in Kashmir and authorities appealed people to stay indoors.
Block Development Chairman Vilgam in Handwara area of Kupwara, Muhammad Yasin Sheikh, was yesterday detained for violating Government orders. He had a scuffle with Police at Dolipora and was taken to Police Station. However, he was later let off.
And acting tough against the violators of Government prohibitory orders, Handwara Police arrested 29 persons for violating the Government prohibitory orders over COVID-19.
A cases (vide FIR numbers 84/2020, 85/2020, 86/2020 and 87/2020 under relevant sections of law) have been registered in Police Station Handwara and investigations have been taken up.
And amid lockdown burglars broke into at least five shops last night in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The burglary took place in Mehndi Kadal, Anantnag last night.
Govt seeks report on IGP’s interference
The Government has taken strong exception to behaviour of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Basant Rath after he reportedly took eight persons from Radha Soami Satsang Ghar, Vijaypur where they were being quarantined to nearby Shant Hotel in Samba district.
Soon after the incident, the Government wrote to senior police functionaries and sought report as to how protocol and guidelines of quarantine were violated.
Sources said Rath reached Vijaypur on being requested by some Kashmiri students on twitter that they were not being provided with adequate facilities by the administration at Radha Soami Satsang Ghar in Vijaypur.
He took eight persons with them to Shant Hotel nearby.
Getting a report, police parties acted swiftly and brought back all persons back from Shant Hotel to the designated quarantine centre.
Police said the enquiry report is likely to be submitted to the Government by tomorrow.
CS appeals for calm
As the number of cases being tested across J&K rose to 33 today, Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam has appealed people to stay calm and don’t panic.
In a message, Subrahmanyam said the J&K Government has undertaken an aggressive testing campaign to detect COVID-19 positive cases as a result of which there is an increase in the number. He said the latest five positive cases today – 2 in Srinagar and 3 in Jammu – are all contacts of prior positives and are asymptomatic which would have never been known for up to 2 weeks and would have infected hundreds subsequently.
The Chief Secretary said the testing rate in J& K is over 10% of those under surveillance which is higher than States like Kerala. He said Medical capacities, response mechanism and other parameters are being quietly ramped up.
Hoping that J&K would overcome the crisis, he complimented the frontline health workers, field administration and volunteers who are resolutely fighting on the ground to defeat the pandemic.
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