5 more Biharis, 7 vendors, 3 BSF men too positive
*Lockdown in Rajouri town as cases surge
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 11: Jammu region today reported two more Corona casualties-one each in Samba and Jammu districts taking total number of deaths in the region to 17 while there was no let up in spike in Corona cases across the region with 91 more persons testing positive including 30 alone in Rajouri and 20 in Kathua districts even as 14 patients were treated and discharged. With today’s positives, 205 Corona cases have been reported in the region during last two days.
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Eleven ITBP personnel tested Corona positive in Kathua district, 3 BSF jawans in Udhampur, five more Biharis in Samba, seven vendors in Rajouri City, sanitation worker in Katra, half a dozen security personnel and six persons in Jammu district with no travel history.
A 55 years old man from Bari Brahamna in Samba district who had been admitted in the GMC Jammu on June 29 and was subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 died at 12.20 pm today, Medical Superintendent Dr Dara Singh said, adding that the man was suffering from carcinoma bladder with acute respiratory distress syndrome. His body was packed as per the protocol.
The COVID victim was cremated this evening at Purmandal as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with limited number of family members allowed to join last rites, SSP Samba Shakti Pathak said.
A 58-year-old man from Simbal Morh in Jammu district, who was admitted in the GMC Jammu yesterday and died at 12.43 pm today, tested positive for the virus posthumously, Dr Singh said, adding that he was suffering from lung disease. His body has been kept in mortuary of the GMC as per the protocol and will be cremated tomorrow.
The Corona casualty in Samba was the first in the district while Jammu district’s death toll has risen to 10. Jammu region has reported total 17 Corona related deaths now including 10 in Jammu followed by two in Doda and one each in Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Samba and Udhampur.
The Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu today set new record by testing 3433 persons for COVID-19 in a single day, HoD Microbiology Department Dr Shashi S Sudhan said. This is for the first time that the GMC Jammu surpassed the mark of 3000 tests in a day.
Jammu district today reported 21 positive cases including 15 travelers and six locals. The locals were contacts of positive persons. Among travelers, nearly half a dozen security personnel reported positive for the virus.
Other positives in the district include a youth from Camp Gole Gujral, contact of a positive person, another youth from Janipura, 32-year-old male from Gangyal, 30-year-old from Kharote, 22-year-old youth from Channi Himmat and 27-year-old from Himachal Pradesh.
District Magistrate Jammu Sushma Chauhan today declared Ustaad Mohalla (Municipal Ward No. 9) falling under jurisdiction of Pacca Danga police station as Containment/Red Zone. Three of a family were tested Corona positive in the locality yesterday.
Rajouri town observed a complete shutdown today as the district administration declared four more areas as Containment/Red Zones after positive cases were detected from there. Aggressive sampling and contact tracing of positive cases is on in the district Rajouri, District Magistrate Nazir Sheikh told the reporters.
With today’s 30 positives, Rajouri district has recorded 142 Corona cases during last five days including 51 yesterday.
Today’s positives include seven vendors from Rajouri City, six outsiders and one from Budhal, 14 travelers and eight contacts of positive persons including two from Sunderbani and one each from Kewal, Smote, Phalni and Saroono.
A police constable posted at the District Police Lines (DPL) Rajouri has also tested positive, SSP Rajouri Chandan Kohli said. A BSF jawan from Dhangri tested positive tonight.
He added that all the positives have been shifted to COVID facilities.
All markets remained shut and traffic was off the road in entire Rajouri town today following restrictions imposed by the district administration due to spurt in COVID cases. Only emergency services were functional.
The entire Rajouri city and adjoining areas were sealed and people were asked to stay indoors as part of the efforts to slow the spread of the infection, reports said.
“The restrictions were re-imposed as a precautionary measure after some locals were tested positive for COVID-19. While in most cases the source of the infection is known, there are some cases where the source is unknown,” sources said. The restrictions would continue till the completion of the contact tracing of all the positive cases, their sampling and receipt of the reports.
“We have five active Red Zones and all the residents of these areas are being subjected to COVID testing,” the officials said.
Meanwhile, the Government Medical College in Rajouri town was closed till further orders following detection of a positive case among the patients, the officials said.
However, the emergency services are functioning normally with doctors and paramedical staff taking all necessary precautionary measures against Coronavirus, they said.
District Magistrate Rajouri Nazir Sheikh today declared Ward No. 10, Jawahar Nagar, Madina Colony and Kheora in Rajouri district as Containment/Red Zones after Corona cases were reported from these areas. Already number of areas in Rajouri town and some villages have been declared as Containment/Red Zones.
Kathua district today also witnessed surge in Corona cases as it reported 20 positive patients.
District Magistrate Kathua OP Bhagat said out of 20 positives, 11 were jawans of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), who were quarantined at Police Training School (PTS) Kathua and one was a police constable from Basohli. Other positives of the district include an Irrigation Department Jallandhar employee, who had returned to Basohli on leave, four labourers under administrative quarantine, two contacts of positive persons and one resident of Nagri Parole, whose sample was taken during random testing.
Over 25 police constables have already reported positive from the PTS Kathua.
Meanwhile, 1730 more persons today crossed Lakhanpur from different parts of the country for Jammu and Kashmir.
Samba district reported nine COVID cases, five of whom were Biharis and had returned from their State here. Other positives in the district include a man from Ward No. 7 Poonch with travel history of Amritsar, a youth from Digiana who had returned from Gurdaspur and two more persons from Jammu who were sampled at Thandi Khui.
Three BSF personnel reported positive for COVID-19 in Udhampur district. All of them were under institutional quarantine at the BSF’s COVID facility.
Four persons including a sanitation worker and five-year-old kin of another safai karamchari today reported Corona positive in Reasi district.
The 50-year-old sanitation worker and five-year-old child of another hailed from Ward No. 6 Katra, which is Red Zone as two safai karamcharis of Katra Municipality had earlier reported positive from there.
Third positive of Reasi district was a 44-year-old man from Ward No. 11 Bhambla, who was working in a private laboratory at Sunderbani and had come home. Parts of village Bhambla have been contained. A traveler also tested positive in Reasi.
Three persons tested positive in Poonch district including a Bihari and two persons hailing from Gulpur and Kama Khan.
Ramban and Doda districts didn’t report any Corona positive cases today.
Fourteen persons were today treated and discharged from various COVID hospitals including seven in Jammu, four Kathua, two Poonch and one in Udhampur.
Of them, four persons were discharged from the Chest Diseases Hospital, Bakshi Nagar, Medical Superintendent Dr Rajeshwar Sharma said.
As per the official figures, Jammu region now has 2181 Corona cases including 697 active. As many as 1468 persons have been treated and discharged from hospitals.
Meanwhile, 13 persons today tested positive for Coronavirus in the Union Territory of Ladakh including six in Leh district and seven in Kargil.
With this, Ladakh’s Corona tally has now reached 1077 including 356 in Leh and 721 in Kargil and active cases to 148—104 in Leh and 44 in Kargil while 928 patients have been treated and there has been one Corona casualty.
Of total positives in Ladakh, 12 were admitted in COVID Hospitals, 133 were in home isolation and three in COVID Care Centres.
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