+ve cases traced to those already infected
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Apr 12: While the majority of COVID-19 positive cases have been reported from Kashmir, the officials today said that there were no traces of community spread anywhere in the Valley so far.
All eyes are focused on district Bandipora, where there have been cases sporadically reported. However, the district has still got a less number of people who have been tested positive in comparison to Srinagar.
Epidemiologist, Kashmir Dr S M Qadri told Excelsior that there were no signs of community spread anywhere in Kashmir and that all the cases that were reported could be traced back to some positive cases.
“It is true for the cases that have been reported in district Bandipora as well-all the cases could be traced back to somebody who was tested positive; though, there have been instances, where people have been hiding their histories,” he said, impressing that there has been no community transmission so far.
Pertinent to mention here, till today, Srinagar had 58 COVID-19 positive cases, while 56 cases were active positive. District Bandipora, had 43 COVID-19 positive cases, while 40 were active positive.
The numbers related to Srinagar, Baramulla, and Bandipora, however, presented a different picture. In Bandipora, there is one case per 9392 people. In Baramulla, there is one case per 5000 people, while as in Srinagar there is one case per 20000 people. Also, the Health officials have maintained that 98% of the cases testing positive have had a travel history or contacts of the positive patients.
The district administration Bandipora has also reiterated that, while the district remains in news for the rapid spread of the infection, all the people who have been tested positive, their chain of infection was traced to someone who either had travel history or was in contact with any positive case in the district.
“We have no signs of community spread in the district; those people who tested positive either had contact with the previous positive cases or had a travel history outside; the first case that was reported in the district had a travel history outside J&K,” Deputy Commissioner, Bandipora, Shahbaz Mirza told Excelsior.
Meanwhile, Dr Parvaiz Koul, Head, Department of Medicine, SKIMS had something else to say with regard to the community spread in Kashmir. He said that there are already a few instances where there are clear indications of community spread.
“To know that, I will again say that there is a need to increase testing in order to know the denominator of the infection; there have been instances of community spread, where people who had no travel histories, no contact with positive cases were tested positive,” he said.
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