With 64 COVID cases, people of this northern Kashmir district are in fear and panic. Gund Jahangir village of this district has emerged as COVID19 hotspot with 35 positive cases alone, including a 52-year old man who died of the infection.
Thevillage has 604 households and 3,650 residents in its catchment. The income ofthe inhabitants comes mostly from fruit business; only a small number of peoplework in government sector.
“Thedeceased had no travel or contact history but all 11 members of his familytested positive,” Medical Superintendent Hajin Dr Nisar Ahmad told GreaterKashmir. As many as 31 people who had contact with the deceased have testedpositive so far.
Hesaid: “We are trying our best to break the chain. We continue to collect thesamples of the contacts.”
“Health statements”accessed by this reporter read that 10 new cases were reported from Naidkhai,Gund Dechina, Gund-Qaiser and Gund Jahangir till last Friday . “Total number ofcases in the district now soared 64 of which 55 are active while 10 patientshave recovered so far in the Bandipora district.”
People have been living infear since the pandemic struck the region.
AshrafAhmad of Gund Jahangir said that since the positive cases emerged from theirarea, “we are confined to our homes and living a fearful life.”
He added: “We are indepression as we are not being able to move out of our homes as everyday newpositive cases come out.”
A senior police officersaid, “A drone has also been made available to monitor the lockdown and keepstrict vigil in and around the sealed area. In Bandipora police uses drones tokeep check on the areas to ensure complete lockdown.”
To stop spread of theinfection, the Bandipora administration arranged 50-bed quarantine centre inHajin tehsil on Thursday as the number of positive cases has jumped to 64.
Since the pandemiccoronavirus, the CHC Hajin has no screening or testing facility. “We refer thesuspect patients to SKIMS Srinagar for screening and tests,” a doctor said.
This reporter Saturdaywitnessed that the roads in several Red Zone areas were completely deserted.
According to the officialfigures, only in Gund Jahangir, 31 locals are in hospital quarantine, 600 inadministrative quarantine and around 400 in home quarantine. They account foralmost 16% of the total population.
In Bandipora the totalpersons enlisted for observation are 11351. Persons kept under home quarantineare 3297, administrative quarantine 496, and persons under isolation inhospital (active cases) are 64.