Srinagar, Mar 24: Three men, two of them from Srinagar and with travel history to foreign countries, have tested positive for coronovirus disease, even as a sexagenarian woman, the first corona positive patient reported in the Valley, has been successfully treated, officials said on Tuesday.
“2 more cases reported positive in Srinagar. One has confirmed travel history outside India. Full details regarding the second being ascertained,” government spokesman Rohit Kansal said in a tweet earlier in the day.
Officials said that one of them aged 57 had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia. He had returned to Kashmir on March 16, the same day a woman from Khanyar became the first coronavirus positive patient in Kashmir.
The other person aged 65 had travelled to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and returned to Kashmir via Delhi, they said.
Third person, from Bandipora district of north Kashmir, also tested positive for the virus, officials said, adding that he is being treated at GMC Baramulla. Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal while confirming this in a tweet, said the person had no history of travel outside India but had returned from southern part of India.
With the fresh cases, the number of coronavirus positive cases in Srinagar City has gone up to three while the total number of infected persons in the union territory rose to seven.
Meanwhile, a 67-year-old woman, the first coronavirus patient reported in the Kashmir Valley, has been successfully treated, officials said today.
“Srinagar’s first COVID-19 Positive case successfully treated: Director SKIMS. Let’s #BreakTheChain,” Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary tweeted.
The woman hailing from Khanyar area of the city had returned from Saudi Arabia on March 16 after performing ‘Umrah’. She tested positive for coronavirus two days later, prompting the authorities to impose partial lock down in the city to prevent spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, the authorities have sanitised the areas around the residences of the two positive cases in Srinagar reported on Tuesday, Choudhary told reporters here at a joint press conference with the Director SKIMS.
“The areas have been sanitised. Teams of doctors and supporting staff from other departments have reached there. All the houses in the 300-metre radius in these areas have been put on surveillance and all the contacts are in quarantine. All the medical procedure will be followed and if there is a need for tests, that will be done,” he said.
He said so far there were three positive cases in Srinagar.
The deputy commissioner said the administration has taken several steps, including restrictions on the movement and assembly of people, to contain the spread of the infection.
“In the coming days, the restrictions will be increased,” he said.
The Director SKIMS Dr. A G Ahangar appealed to the people to cooperate with the government and follow the advice of the doctors.
“If any person has a travel history, even if he is asymptomatic, he should self-declare and bring it to the notice of the government and health agencies. If anyone is symptomatic and has travel history or any family member has travel or contact history with some positive case, or a health worker who has treated a positive case, he should self-declare and undergo tests and treatment which is very important,” he said.
Ahangar also appealed to the people to not buy or hoard the medicines Hydroxychloroquine and anti-viral drugs which, he said, should not be taken without doctors’ prescriptions.
Pertinently, two persons who tested positive for coronavirus have recovered and were released from the hospital in the Union Territory of Ladakh as well, where no fresh case was reported during the past five days, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Commissioner Secretary (Health) Rigzin Samphel, however, said both the cured patients have been moved to a quarantine facility and will remain under surveillance.
“Technically, now we have only 11 COVID-19 positive cases from the earlier 13 cases because two of them have tested negative and accordingly shifted from the isolation ward of the hospital to a quarantine facility. They will remain under surveillance,” Samphel told reporters in Leh. He said the condition of the rest of the 11 patients is stable.
The test reports of 18 samples – 15 from Kargil and three from Leh — were received from Delhi and all of these were negative, he said.
