Category: Union Territory

23 more tested positive today

Srinagar, Apr 10: The toll of positive cases has crossed 200 mark on Friday with government saying that more 23 cases have been detected in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory today.

According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), government spokesman Rohit Kansal said that total number of positive cases across the Union Territory has mounted to 207.

He said that there are now 39 cases in Jammu while as the 168 people have been detected positive in the Valley.

A kashmiri lady passed away in Dubai Hospital.

She was infected with covid-19.

Deceased has left behind 3 daughters. One a year old, another 2 years and third one 6 year old.

– Further details awaited.

Srinagar, April 10: Jammu and Kashmir reported 25 new cases of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 209, official sources told GNS.

They said that among the fresh cases include 18 in Kashmir Valley and seven in Jammu.

Among the 18 cases in Kashmir Valley, sources said 10 are said to from Kupwara and Baramulla districts of north Kashmir.

Regarding Jammu cases, they said, six are contacts of a 61-year-old woman who died on April 8 and are all residents of Udhampur district, the home town of the deceased woman who was cremated at Jammu yesterday “in accordance with her wish.”

With these fresh cases, 209 have tested positive for the dreaded disease so far in Jammu and Kashmir and include 170 in Kashmir and 29 in Jammu division. (GNS)

Budgam: For three weeks a student with travel history to Delhi who was tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday mingled with people in district Kupwara. Taking the case lightly, the district administration had advised the said student from Dragmulla Kupwara to go for home quarantine, but caring a fig for the advice, the student roamed freely, visited mosque, purchased grocery and vegetables, interacted with friends and even played cricket since his arrival in native village on March 15 last month.

Administration which is right now busy in tracing the contacts of this Covid-19 patient believes that he might have come into contact with over 1000 people. This has panicked people who blame authorities for negligence.

Locals told KNT that a student from Dragmulla Kupwara had arrived from Delhi on 15 March. “He was kept for three days in a quarantine centre and then asked to stay at home. Why his samples were not taken and why people were put at risk,” they questioned.

Nodal Officer for Coronavirus, Muhammad Iliyas told KNT that the said student concealed his travel history and he didn’t reveal that he has been to Nizamuddin area. “We traced his location and put under observation,” he said.

District Development Commissioner Kupwara, Ansul Garg too said that the infected person was asymptomatic and concealed his travel history. “When administration contacted him, he tweeted and accused us of harassment. We came to know that he was in Nizamuddin area through his cell phone,” he said and appealed people not to hide their travel history. (KNT)

Srinagar, April 10: Luck didn’t favour a Kashmiri group who had travelled to Nigeria in South Africa and were put under mandatory quarantine in a tourist spot far from Srinagar. When their quarantine period completed, five of them tested positive and three negative.

Official sources told Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS) that eight people of Tableegi Jamaat were put under mandatory quarantine at Gulmarg resort of Kashmir. “They were lodged in an administrative quarantine center at Gulmarg with all the possible essential commodities available to them,” an official said.
He said that they had a travel history of Nigeria, where they had gone to attend a Tableegi Jamaat program in early March. “They cooperated with the administration and agreed to stay in 14- day mandatory quarantine in Gulmarg. All of them were asymptomatic but completed mandatory quarantine period.”

However, the day when they were supposed to be discharged, came their results. “Five of them were coronavirus positive and three negative. Luck didn’t favour the five,” an official privy to the tests told KINS.
After their tests came positive, the entire quarantine center staff was asked to stay in quarantine and the building was sanitized too.

Deputy Commissioner Baramullah, Dr. G. N. Itoo said that eight people were lodged in Gulmarg and they had a travel history of South Africa. “Five of them tested positive and three negative,” he told KINS.

“Those who served them have been now put on mandatory quarantine and there testes will also be done,” the DC said.

He said till date the administration in the Baramullah District have tested 153 people. “21 have been tested positive so far and 133 negative,” the DC informed.

Kashmir is already on an edge as the pandemic is spreading fast. In the past 24 hours, 56 cases were tested positive in Kashmir alone which signifies that the pandemic has almost taken an ugly turn. Four people, three of them in Kashmir, have already died of Covid-19. (KINS)

Naikpora A & B of ward NO-2 of MC kulgam, also declared as red zone

Srinagar, Apr 10: After a positive COVID-19 case was reported from village Sopat in the district, District Magistrate (DM), Kulgam Showkat Aijaz Bhat declared sopat-tengpora villages as Red Zone and its surrounding villages, Berigam, Mondhole, Banghall,Cheyan Adigam of tehsil Devsar as buffer Zones.

Meanwhile Naikpora “A” & “B” ward No. 02 of Municipal committee kulgam has also been declered as red zones which were earlier declered as buffer zones.

So far two positive case of COVID-19 has been reported in the district.

Invoking prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, there will be no inward and outward movement of any person from Red and buffer zone areas.

According to KINS South Kashmir correspondent,District Magistrate kulgam personally visited Sopat area to monitor the situation and said that it becomes imperative to take stringent precautionary measures like declaring village as Red zone and surrounding villages as a buffer zone to break transmission of the disease in the area.

Notably district is under strict restrictions and lockdown down in View of COVID-19.(KINS)

Sopore, Apr 10: Dozens of people especially youth were arrested during nocturnal raids in Zaingeer belt of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, officials said.

According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the arrested persons had defied the government’s prohibitory orders and had attended the funeral procession of slain Jaish-e-Muhammad commander, who was killed in recent gunfight in the area.

A senior police officer told KNO that they have arrested dozens of people who were identified through visuals. Officer said more arrests are expected from different villages of Zaingeer belt in coming days.

Police officials said that the participation of large number of people in the funeral of slain militant not only violated the set guidelines issued by the government in wake of Covid-19, but it also exposed the entire population in the area to the pandemic.

He said that an FIR vide number 70/2020 under section 188 has been registered in this regard and videos of this procession are being checked and those who participated in it are being identified

— (KNO)

As global demand for anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) grows, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have procured 1.10 lakh tablets to use them treat coronavirus patients.

The drug has been touted as a potential “game-changer” for coronavirus by US President Donald Trump, although several international health experts say that its effectiveness on treating the contagion is still unproven.

Health officials said the tablets have been distributed among various hospitals treating the coronavirus patients in Jammu and Kashmir.

“In first installment, we procured 1.10 lakh hydroxychloroquine tablets for Jammu and Kashmir on Monday,” said Mohammad Iqbal, General Manager J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Limited, which is entrusted to procure and supply drugs to government-run hospitals.

With coronavirus positive cases in the union territory climbing to 114, majority of them in Kashmir, Iqbal said 60,000 hydroxychloroquine tablets have been allotted to hospitals in Kashmir and 50,000 to Jammu.

In Kashmir, 30,000 tablets have been allowed to Directorate of Health Services Kashmir, 15,000 to Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, 5,000 each to SKIMS, Bemina, GMC Baramulla, and GMC Anantnag.

“These drugs have been procured for treatment of CoVID positive cases and high-risk health workers,” he said.

However, Iqbal said HCQ drug was yet to be used for coronavirus treatment.

HCQ drug is used to prevent or treat malaria infections caused by mosquito bites. It is also used, usually with other medications, to treat certain auto-immune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis) when other medications have not worked or cannot be used. It belongs to a class of medications known as disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)

Many virologists and infectious disease experts have cautioned people about the use of hydroxychloroquine, as there have been no complete clinical trials to see how the drug behaves in patients.

“Those rushing to buy and stock (err hoard) hydroxychloroquine may note that there is only a weak evidence for its use and its approval comes in wake of absence of clearly effective and safe alternatives. Patients with other diseases (RA etc) need it and must find it in stores,” tweeted Dr Parvaiz Koul, Head of Chest Medicine department at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura.

India has allowed the export of a drug considered vital for the treatment of coronavirus.

The government on Tuesday said it would allow the US to import from India previously contracted shipments of the drug.

HCQ came into limelight after Trump said he wanted to eliminate all barriers to make it available for the treatment of Covid patients in the US where the death toll has crossed 10,000.

In India, the main Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) makers for HCQ are Ipca Laboratories and Zydus Cadila, and the US is now willing to overlook its Federal Drug Authority’s three-year ban on one of the companies.

– Samaan Lateef | TNS

People not cooperating, will revise schedule once temperature improves: CE PDC

Srinagar, Apr 09 (KNO): Even though half of the spring season has already passed, people across Kashmir resent the government’s move of providing power supply according to the winter schedule.

Locals from different areas of central south and north Kashmir told wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that their area is getting power supply as per the winter schedule which was announced and implemented in first week of November last year.

“Winter is over but our power woes continue. We are still getting the power supply as per the winter schedule that was announced and implemented in October last year,” said Irfan Ahmad a resident of Chanapora area of Srinagar.

Residents from different areas of North Kashmir said that unscheduled and frequent power cuts still persist in the entire region despite the arrival of summer season.

“Since November snowfall, the power development department has failed to ensure proper power supply as per their curtailment schedule which affects the residents quite badly,” said Junaid Ahmad, a resident of Baramulla.

Locals from South Kashmir said that power supply is snapped after every one or two hours in their area. “Our area reels under darkness in the evening. Despite arrival of spring season and considerable improvement in weather, the power supply is snapped as per winter schedule and pesky power cuts are still prevalent” Waris Ahmad, a local resident of Achabal area of Anantnag, said.

Since January the power development department had failed to ensure proper power supply as per their curtailment schedule which affects residents as well businessmen and industrialists,” said Ghulam Muhammad, a resident of Lassipora.

Similarly residents of other areas of Kashmir have alleged that after every two hours, the area witnesses power cuts that too for hours together.

“We took up the issue with authorities who are assuring us of improvement in the power schedule, but on ground nothing happens,” said locals from different areas of Kashmir.

When contacted, Chief Engineer Power Development Corporation Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Dar, said due to Covid restrictions and sustained cold, load is yet to drop and people are also not cooperating by reducing heating loads.

“Constrains do not allow full change of schedule and it will changed only once temperature will further improve,” he said—(KNO)