3 of family, woman among 6 test +ve in Jammu
Admn quarantine for all train returnees
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 10: In a widely appreciated move, some districts in Jammu region have geared up to open shops dealing in non-essential items from tomorrow even as six more persons including three members of a family (a woman and her two children) tested positive for Coronavirus in Jammu and Kathua districts today taking total number of cases in Jammu region to 75 and active cases to 19 while two trains carrying stranded persons of Jammu and Kashmir left Bengaluru and Goa this morning and will reach Udhampur on Tuesday. The Government has decided that all persons travelling by trains will be subjected to administrative quarantine.
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Three members of a family in Billawar tehsil of Kathua district including a 28-year-old woman, her six years old daughter and three-month male baby, tested positive for COVID-19 tonight. They had travel history of New Delhi and had been sampled couple of days back. Their further contact tracing was launched tonight and the Health authorities were in the process of shifting them to dedicated COVID hospital at Gandhi Nagar.
The trio was asymptomatic, doctors said.
Another worker hailing from village Phinter in Billawar tehsil of Kathua district, who had recently returned from Sadar Bazaar, New Delhi and was under administrative quarantine, also tested positive for Coronavirus today. He had travelled in a truck from New Delhi to Lakhanpur on April 29 and then Billawar, where he was quarantined administratively along with 10 other persons.
A woman from New Plot, Jammu, who was suffering from renal failure and was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit in the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu, tested positive for COVID-19 today. She was immediately shifted to Government Gandhi Nagar Hospital, a dedicated COVID hospital for further treatment with dialysis facilities.
GMC Jammu Medical Superintendent Dr Dara Singh said the woman was admitted as a case of renal failure and was kept in ICU’s ‘Suspect Area’. Her contact tracing is on to ascertain source of getting infected, he added.
A 40-year old teacher, who was neighbour of a family of Gurha, Bakshi Nagar in Jammu whose three members were infected with Coronavirus, also tested positive for COVID-19 today. His sample had been taken as contact of the neighbours. The woman, her husband and son besides their truck driver had been reported positive as her husband had travel history to New Delhi.
The Gurha teacher and Phinter (Billawar) worker have been shifted to Chest Diseases Hospital, Bakshi Nagar Jammu. Both of them were asymptomatic, CD Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Rajeshwar Sharma said.
Contact tracing of all three cases tested positive today is on and they are being isolated before sample testing.
Police teams have contained New Plot area where the COVID-19 positive woman was residing while Gurha has already been declared Containment Zone after three members of a family were tested positive there.
With today’s six cases, number of total Corona cases in Jammu region has gone up to 75
Of them, 55 Corona patients have been successfully treated and discharged while there has been one death. Jammu region now has 19 active Corona cases.
The Microbiology Depart-ment of the GMC Jammu today conducted 1102 tests for Coronavirus under the supervision of HoD Dr Shashi S Sudan.
District Magistrate Udhampur Dr Piyush Singla today allowed opening of shops dealing with non-essential commodities on rotation basis from 8 am to 1 pm as per the instructions of the Union Territory Government vide an order dated May 3.
The utensil shops will open in Udhampur district on Monday and Friday, book seller and stationery shops on Sunday and Thursday, Mobile, computer shops and shops dealing in sale/repair of electronic home appliances on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, vehicle repairing workshops excluding showrooms on Wednesday and Sunday goldsmith and jewellery shops on Sunday and Thursday, shops dealing in sale of clothes, apparels and shoes excluding shopping Malls on Sunday and Wednesday, cement and hardware shops on Saturday and Tuesday and cosmetics/manyari shops on Thursday and Saturday.
“Shopkeepers/retailers/service providers will work with 50 percent strength of workers and will be responsible for maintenance of proper social distancing, wearing of masks/face cover while providing service to customers and no person above the age of 60 will be engaged in sale purchase activity,” the order issued by Dr Singla said.
District Magistrate Ramban Nazim Zai Khan has also ordered that shops selling non-essential items i.e. Electronics and Electrical, Cell Phone/Mobile Recharge, books and stationery items, Customer Service Centres, clothes, shoes, crockery, utensils, hardware, plastic items, cosmetic/manyari, cement/TMT bars and workshops will remain open from 3 pm to 6 pm every Saturday and Sunday in Sub Division Banihal of district Ramban.
District Magistrate Samba Rohit Khajuria has already ordered opening of stationery shops, mobile shops and fans/coolers (Electrical) shops in Samba district every Wednesday and Sunday from 8 am to 11 am.
Administration in a couple of other districts has also allowed some shops dealing in non-essential items to open on rotation basis for few hours.
Number of people in different parts of Jammu region said if shops selling non-essential items can be opened in some districts of Jammu region on rotation basis with fixed timings, why they can’t be opened in Jammu, the winter capital of the Union Territory which has just six active cases of Coronavirus?
Further, they said, there has been no evidence to suggest that any person has become Corona positive by visiting the shops of grocery, vegetables, milk products etc which were open throughout the lockdown for past over one and a half month as people are now following the guidelines of social distancing and wearing masks
“In such a situation, keeping the shops of non-essential items shut for a long time in Jammu district is not appropriate and they should be opened on rotational basis,” a number of people, who rang up the Excelsior, said.
Meanwhile, two trains today left Bengaluru in Karnataka and Goa for Udhampur district of J&K. The trains will reach Udhampur on Tuesday. Both the trains are carrying stranded persons of the Union Territory.
An official statement issued here said the Jammu and Kashmir Government has given green signal to the arrival of trains in the Union Territory with its residents being evacuated from different parts of the country amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
The inflow through trains was preceded by the regulated road transportation of the stranded persons via Lakhanpur.
The trains entering the Union Territory will disembark the passengers at Udhampur railway station.
The highly regulated homecoming of such persons aboard the trains has been initiated with elaborate preemptive arrangements. The authorities have framed intensive protocols and established detailed procedure for their district wise return, the statement said.
District administration Udhampur has created a fresh sample collection capacity of 1000 per day for train returnees as there will be 100 percent testing of the passengers for COVID-19.
The statement said all arrangements for receiving, registering and sending the returnees to their destination by the buses have been made.
The returnees to Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts will be sent to Jammu where their samples will be taken and they be subjected to administrative quarantine.
All returnees to Doda and Kishtwar will be sent to Doda and after the sample collections there, they will be then administratively quarantined at the respective districts.
Similarly, the returnees to Reasi, Rajouri and Poonch will be sent to their districts. Their samples will be taken at their respective districts and they will be quarantined administratively there.
The returnees to Ramban and Udhampur will be sent to Udhampur where their samples will be taken. However, they will be quarantined (administrative quarantine) at Ramban and Udhampur respectively.
The returnees to Kulgam and Anantnag will have their samples taken at Udhampur. They will be then sent to their respective district headquarters for administrative quarantine.
All other returnees to remaining eight Kashmir districts will be sent to their respective districts. Their samples will be picked up in their own districts and they will be administratively quarantined there.
In case Udhampur has some spare capacity on a particular day, it will take samples of a few more districts in this order – Kupwara, Budgam, Srinagar and Udhampur and will inform the concerned district accordingly.
‘All returnees have to be 100% tested and undergo ‘administrative quarantine’ with no exceptions. Only if tests come negative, can they be sent for home quarantine for 14 days.
All returnees will be sent by bus convoys with police escort till they reach quarantine facilities,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the divisional administration Jammu has facilitated return of 97 Kashmiri residents who were stranded in Jammu.
The stranded Kashmiri residents left for Srinagar and Ganderbal districts through special SRTC buses from Sunjwan, Bathindi and Sidhra.
Officials informed that this process will continue for next few days.
They said that registration link/contact details have been made available on website of the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu for families desirous to travel from Jammu to Kashmir by bus.
The DC Udhampur order on opening of
non-essential items’ shops
S.No Name of the service/ Commodity Days for which relaxation granted
1. Chemist / Medical Shops Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
2. Milk and other Dairy products Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
3. Poultry / Meat Shops Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
4. Agriculture input shops / Animal Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
Feed and Fodder
5. Grocery / Karyana / Provisional / Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat
Confectionary Shops
6. Utensil Shops Mon, Fri
7. Book seller / Stationery Shops Sun, Thu
8. Mobile / Computer Shops Mon, Wed, Fri
9. Shops dealing in sale / repair of Mon, Wed, Fri
electric home appliances
10. Vehicle repairing workshops Wed, Sun
excluding Showrooms
11. Gold smith / Jewellery Shops Sun, Thu
12. Shops dealing in sale of clothes / Sun, Wed
Apparels / shoes excluding
shopping mall
13. Cement / Hardware Shops Sat, Tue
14. Cosmetics / Manyari Thu, Sat
The Shopkeepers / retailers / service providers shall work with 50% strength of workers and be responsible for:-
* Maintenance of proper social distancing during relaxation period.
* Wearing of mask / face cover while providing the service to customers.
* No person above the age of 60 years shall be engaged in sale purchase
activity as they are more vulnerable to infection.
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