Nocturnal travelers to Kashmir go untested

Even as the government has established a testing facility at Lower Munda near Qazigund in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, travellers entering the Valley in the evening and night go untested.

The facility set up on April 9 following the spike in covid cases in Kashmir, operates between 8 am to 6 pm only. “All the passengers arriving beyond this time pass without being tested at all,” a health official said, adding that this laxity could prove disastrous. “Testing the travelers only during day hours is beyond understanding,” the official said.

   

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Dooru, Ghulam Rasool Wani admitted that for now they have directions to test the travelers from 8 pm to 6 pm only. “Not many travelers have tested positive,” he said.

However, videos purportedly showing non-local labourers and others entering the valley in large numbers in passenger busses have gone viral on social media.

People allege that non-locals move around without any hindrance. “Is lockdown only for locals?” several Netizens asked while uploading videos on Facebook and Twitter.

“As of now, we have conducted RAT of around 18,579 passengers including visitors, labourers, commuters, and locals. Only 282 among them have tested positive for covid-19,” Block Medical Officer (BMO), Qazigund, Dr. Zahoor Ahmad told Greater Kashmir.

He said that a surveillance team of the health department is “strictly” following all the necessary guidelines. “We seek all the details from the person who tests positive to ensure he if asymptomatic or having mild symptoms, remains under home isolation. If the symptoms are severe then we hospitalize him in the Covid facility at Kulgam,” Dr. Zahoor said.

He said that if the traveller has symptoms but his RAT is negative he is properly screened and treated as a suspected case. “Some of the labourers who have no accommodation are provided administrative quarantine facility till they recover,” he added.

On April 25 as many as 110 out of 190 non-local labourers who had arrived in Kashmir days ago had tested positive for COVID-19 in the Qazigund area after their samples were taken for RTPCR.

The labourers working with BEACON were putting in hotels and were on way to Ladakh. “All of them had tested negative for RAT at Lakhanpur toll plaza and were carrying the requisite certificate,” an official said.

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