J&K starts tracing residents who met Kashmir’s 1st COVID-19 patient after Saudi return

Twenty-one medical teams formed for the exercise have collected details of neighbours who may have visited her as well as her relatives.

Representational image | PTI

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration Thursday began tracing residents who may have come into contact with the first Kashmiri patient of COVID-19, a woman in her 60s who was diagnosed Wednesday.

The “contact-tracing” exercise came at a time when the administration has enforced strict restrictions in the city in a bid to arrest the spread of the virus. Jammu & Kashmir together had four cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, with the countrywide figure at 173.

According to officials in the J&K administration, 21 teams comprising doctors and medical assistants conducted a door-to-door surveillance exercise in a 300-metre radius around the Kashmiri patient’s house, which is located in Srinagar’s Khanyar locality.

“The entire area has been put under lock-down in efforts to prevent and contain spread of the infection in the area and the district,” said a government statement.

“The medical teams went to all houses within a 300-metre radius surrounding the house… and conducted relevant investigations to ascertain whether someone had come into contact with the infected person,” the government added.

The teams have collected details of neighbours who may have visited her as well as her relatives. The scope of the exercise is likely to be extended beyond the 300-metre radius because the woman is believed to have met several people since she arrived in Srinagar from Saudi Arabia on 16 March.

This is because, the officials said, the woman had visited Saudi Arabia for the Umrah, a non-mandatory pilgrimage Muslims can take any time of the year. 

Among Muslims, it’s a tradition for relatives, neighbours, associates and friends to meet and welcome people who have returned from pilgrimage. 

Official sources in the J&K administration said the patient may have come into contact with “hundreds of individuals”. The woman, a source said, is related to an IPS officer serving in Jammu & Kashmir. However, the source said the IPS officer did not make “direct contact” with the woman and had nevertheless gone into isolation as a precautionary measure.

“The number of people to have come in contact with the patient could be high because she received a lot of visitors. We have begun contact-tracing and records of all those in contact with her will be updated into our database,” a senior government officer said.

J&K administration spokesperson Rohit Kansal had Wednesday informed the public about Kashmir’s first COVID-19 case through Twitter. He had also asked people to “self-report” if there were any symptoms.

Panic in the Valley

Asked if the woman was screened at the Srinagar airport upon arrival, government officers remained tightlipped. 

The arrival of four foreign tourists, including an Italian couple, had created panic in Srinagar Wednesday after they were spotted taking a shikara ride and staying in a house boat. 

Italy has emerged as the second epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic after Wuhan, China, the point of origin. Nearly 3,000 people are believed to have died in Italy as a result of COVID-19 infection, with the pandemic putting the country’s healthcare system under immense stress. Italy is one of the countries whose residents are currently prohibited from visiting India.

The administration defended their arrival but said they would be sent back. “The tourists were screened and isolated despite being asymptomatic but in view of the government order banning entry of foreign tourists… they will be sent back tomorrow,” Srinagar district commissioner Shahid Choudhary said Wednesday.  

A senior government official said Thursday the tourists had been sent back and authorities in Delhi informed. 

Meanwhile, residents Thursday thronged markets for panic-shopping as the J&K administration imposed restrictions to check the spread of the highly-contagious virus. 

As security forces in Srinagar put up barricades and check points at busy intersections, and even sealed the main city markets, shoppers queued up at smaller markets to buy essentials. Chemists also saw massive crowds, as did petrol pumps.

During the day, the administration suspended local train services until 31 March and also restricted the movement of all types of public transport in Srinagar district. Around 78 flight passengers from Leh were quarantined at a designated facility on the outskirts of Srinagar.