3-day old baby, father, hospital staff test -ve
First Army jawan, second doctor, Tablighi contact among 4 more +ve in Jammu; total 48
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 12: An Army soldier, who was on leave, a female doctor posted in Udhampur and contact of a Tablighi Jamaat cadre were among four persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu region today taking total number of Coronavirus patients to 48. Condition of one of the patients tested positive today was critical and he has been put on ventilator.
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Meanwhile, 127 more sample reports were received late tonight from GMC Jammu (106) and Command Hospital Udhampur (21) and all of them were negative. The reports include that of 3-day old baby and husband of a woman from Akhnoor, who had tested positive soon after delivery in SMGS Hospital. However, the woman’s second sample also tested positive.
Some doctors and staff of SMGS and other hospitals, whose samples were taken today, have also tested negative Despite limited resources, Microbiology, Department of GMC Jammu under the supervision of Dr Shashi S Sudan, HoD, today conducted 106 tests. All samples in the Department are being completed daily and no sample is left pending.
Seventeen persons were tested positive for COVID-19 in Kashmir today taking total number of cases in the Valley to 197 and that of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to 245. However, out of 245 total cases, number of active cases stood at 235-44 in Jammu and 191 in Kashmir with four deaths-one in Jammu and three in Kashmir and six recoveries and subsequent discharge from the hospitals-three each in both divisions.
Among 245 COVID-19 patients in Jammu and Kashmir, this is for the first time that an Army soldier has tested positive for Coronavirus though he was posted at Agra in Uttar Pradesh and was on leave staying at his residence at village Chack Ramchand in Supwal area of Samba district while a dentist was second doctor to be infected with virus in the Jammu region.
SSP Samba Shakti Pathak told the Excelsior that 34-year old Army jawan had travelled in the same bogey of the train in which Tablighi Jamaat cadre were returning to Jammu from Nizamuddin on March 18. The jawan had boarded the train from Agra, where he was posted, while Tablighis had taken the same train from Nizamuddin in New Delhi.
The jawan was kept under quarantine for 14 days and remained asymptomatic. He was discharged from quarantine and allowed to go home on April 2. Samples of the soldier and his wife were taken during random checking, Pathak said, adding the jawan tested positive while her wife was negative.
“We have sealed the village Chack Ramchand after it was declared Red Zone by the District Magistrate. Inside and outside movement from the village has been stopped,” the SSP Samba said. He added that all eight family members of the jawan have been sent for quarantine and sample testing.
A 39-year old dentist posted at CHC Garhi in Udhampur district and a resident of Bohri Chowk falling under the jurisdiction of Domana police station, also tested positive today for Coronavirus. She too was asymptomatic.
According to sources, she had come in contact with dental technician, who happened to be relative of deceased woman from Tikri in Udhampur district and was posted in the same hospital at Garhi. The Tikri woman had died in the GMC Jammu and is lone Coronavirus casualty in Jammu region while her seven family members had tested positive for the virus.
The dentist, whose husband is also a doctor in the District Hospital Kathua, has become second doctor in the Jammu region to test positive for COVID-19. Earlier, a faculty member of the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu posted in Microbiology Department had tested positive. Later, his wife, father and servant had also tested positive. The doctor’s husband was tonight tested negative.
Sources said the CHC Garhi will be reopened after sanitization and fumigation and the staff and family members of the female doctor have been sent for quarantine and sample testing.
Police parties from Domana police station headed by Inspector Chanchal Singh have sealed Bohri Chowk and surrounding areas as they were declared as Red Zones by the administration after the doctor tested positive.
A 29-year old resident of Jawahar Nagar, Satwari, who had come in contact with a Tablighi Jamaat cadre at local religious place, has also tested positive for Coronavirus. The Tablighi had attended the function at local religious place of Satwari after Bari Brahamana and later left for Srinagar where he was tested COVID-19 positive and has since died.
All family members of the Tablighi contact have been sent to Teachers Bhawan in Gandhi Nagar for quarantine and the area has been sealed by Satwari police station teams led by SHO Gurmeet Singh.
A 46-year old male, originally a resident of Ramnagar in Udhampur district and presently living at EWS Colony in Lower Roop Nagar, tested positive today after remaining hospitalized at ASCOMS Sidhra since April 5. He was intitially under treatment of liver-related ailments.
He was symptomatic and was sent for sample testing by the private hospital authorities. He has been admitted in Isolation Ward of the Government Medical College in critical condition. Doctors have put him on ventilator.
Meanwhile, police has been deployed outside ASCOMS Sidhra and entire staff which has attended the patient has been sent on quarantine.
A total of 35 COVID-19 patients have been admitted in the Chest Diseases Hospital, Bakshi Nagar which has been declared as dedicated COVID Hospital, Medical Superintendent Dr Rajeshwar Sharma said.
He added that condition of all of them was stable.
Meanwhile, authorities have subjected several doctors, para-medical and other staff of the SMGS and Sub District Hospital Akhnoor to sample testing after they had come in contact with Coronavirus positive patient who had delivered baby in the SMGS hospital.
District Magistrate Udhampur Dr Piyush Singla today said all 23 samples sent for testing for COVID-19, who were `High Risk Contacts’ (mostly of Health Department and police personnel) have tested negative.
“21 more samples have been lined up for today. Joint teams working day and night in contact tracing. Please cooperate to contain (Coronavirus),” Dr Singla said in a tweet.
SDPO Nagrota Mohan Lal Sharma said police have traced a person who was evading travel history and registered a case against him at Nagrota. He has been sent for quarantine.
Mandi police in Poonch district has registered a FIR under Section 188 IPC against eight persons for violating lockdown orders and keeping their shops open.
Out of 48 COVID-19 patients in the Jammu region, three have been treated and discharged from the Government Medical College Jammu while a woman has died, leaving active cases at 44.
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