Jammu division Thursday touched 100 mark of Covid19 positive cases with Jammu city registering 61 of them.
Among 61 positive cases in Jammu district, 56 are locals and 5 travellers.
Even as the health department has deputed over 71 teams in crowded areas of the winter capital and aggressive sampling is going on in urban areas, the covid positive cases have surged in Jammu as two school teachers of Government Girls Higher Secondary School Nai Basti were also confirmed infected.
“One teacher, who was already on leave, was tested positive for Covid19 yesterday. Hence, we conducted test of all the staff members including a teacher who was also on leave. The teacher had to join back the school in two days,” Principal, Govt Girls Higher Secondary School, Nai Basti (Satwari), Surjeet Singh told the Greater Kashmir.
Singh said, “In today’s sampling, one teacher tested positive. However, the report of three other teachers came negative in re-test while the report of two teachers is awaited.”
As a precautionary measure, he said, they have closed school till Monday and the school has been sanitized by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC).
Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer, (CMO), Jammu, Dr JP Singh told the Greater Kashmir said of 61 total cases in Jammu District, 11 cases are contacts of already positive persons, 21 are patients, 24 cases detected in random sampling and 5 travelers.
He informed them that they have increased testing with a motive to contain the virus before the situation turns from bad to worse.
Another official said that the labs are over burdened with the samples. “Over 2000 RT-PCR samples are still pending in the labs in the last two days. The labs are working under pressure and they need more staff and strategy to handle the situation.”
Principal, Government Medical College, Jammu, Dr Shashi Sudan admitted that the pressure on the labs has increased and they have decided to increase strength in labs.
Presently, she said, the samples are being tested in seven labs in Jammu i.e., Government Medical College, Jammu, IIIM, three new Medical Colleges, Command Hospital, and Batra Hospital, Sidhra. “We are planning to increase testing capacity at IIIM,” she responded.
Besides Jammu district with 61 fresh cases, the health department’s report disclosed that 4 positive cases have surfaced in Udhampur District, 4 in Rajouri, 1 in Doda, 21 in Kathua, 6 in Samba District, 3 in Poonch.