Jammu: Seventy-two of the 80 prisoners of the district jail here in Amphalla, who had tested COVID-19 positive over a fortnight ago, have recovered, an official said on Monday as authorities started retesting inmates and staff for the coronavirus.
With 83 positive cases – 80 prisoners and three staff members – the jail had the highest number of COVID-19 cases among prisons in the Jammu region of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
It was followed by 51 positive cases in Kathua district jail, 50 in Rajouri district jail, 24 in Bhaderwah jail in Doda district and four in the Central Jail in Kot Bhalwal in Jammu.
“Out of the 80 prisoners, who tested positive for COVID-19 over a fortnight back, 72 have been cured after successful treatment,” Jammu District Jail Superintendent Mirza Saleem Ahmad Beig said.
Re-testing exercise in the jail started this morning, he said and added that the three staff members, who were found positive for the coronavirus earlier, have tested negative this time.
However, Beig said that in the fresh re-testing drive 10 prisoners, including two new inmates, have been found positive. They are asymptomatic and are being provided necessary treatment, the superintendent said.
He said that precautions have been taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, a police official said that a 75-year-old prisoner from the Bhaderwah jail in Doda district died of COVID-19 at a hospital here, which is also, incidentally, the first death among prisoners lodged in different jails in the Jammu region.
The elderly prisoner, who was facing murder charge, had tested positive for COVID-19 last month and was shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital here. He breathed his last on Sunday, the official said.
He said the deceased was suffering from various ailments including diabetes and hypertension.
