Coronavirus: 14 new cases in Kashmir take J-K's tally to 106
Samaan Lateef
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, April 5
Kashmir reported 14 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the tally for Jammu and Kashmir to 106 and forcing authorities to ramp up testing in areas declared as red and buffer zones in an attempt to control the scale of the contagion.
“14 new cases in Kashmir Division. Total number of positive cases in J&K now 106. Active cases in Kashmir-82 and Jammu -18,” J&K government spokesperson Rohit Kansal said in a tweet on Sunday.
The cases include a 24-year-old youth from Bandipora with travel history to Bhopal and a woman from Sheer Check, Pakherpora, in Budgam district.
The state has seen two deaths from the contagion so far.
Jammu and Kashmir saw a major spike in infections on Saturday after 17 people were tested positive for the virus.
Jammu and Kashmir administration has declared several dozen villages red and buffer zones after they reported multiple infections.
“We had a slow start for CoVID-19 testing and that is why positive cases were less. Now, we have started random testing in red zones and we fear number will rise drastically,” he said.
Official records say Health Services Kashmir (HSK) took 120 samples for testing on Saturday against the routine 50 samples.
“Today, our sample collecting will go up to 150,” he said.
“We have doubled the sample collection for testing. Unless we carry out wide spread testing, we won’t be able to fight this deadly disease,” he said.
HSK has trained 52 laboratory technicians for collection of samples for testing of CoVID-19 suspected cases in red and buffer zones.
“This will ease out the burden of sample collection at centralized labs and enhance the number of test results per day,” HSK said in a statement.
According to HSK the samples collected in north Kashmir districts and Budgam will be sent for testing to Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) while as samples from South Kashmir and Srinagar will go to Chest Disease hospital Srinagar.
Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal on Saturday said 1,397 samples were tested of which 1,250 were found negative while as 92 tested positive.
Authorities are struggling to increase the testing capacities of the hospitals to cover maximum people tested for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease.
Experts are pitching for utilisation of Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) laboratories existing at different universities of Jammu and Kashmir to conduct more tests on a given day.
Currently, J&K is testing for SARS-CoV-2 at four places—Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) of Srinagar and Jammu, and Army’s Command Hospital Udhampur.
Public health experts said government needs to utilise labs in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Kashmir University, and other research institutes to expedite the testing.
“All these site in-charges (of research institutes) need to meet and workout how they can facilitate enhancing the testing capacity, either by supporting the existing lab with more equipment and manpower or starting at different locations within their institutions,” said head of the community medicine GMC Srinagar Prof Muhammad Salim Khan.
However, head of Chest Medicine department SKIMS, Dr Parvaiz Koul, cautioned that the RT-PCR labs in universities could not be used for SARS-CoV-2 testing unless biosafety measures are in place.
“You can’t play with live virus unless you have adequate biosafety equipment for the testing staff. It is too dangerous. RT-PCR is available at many places but safety issues limit its utilisation,” Koul said.
Kansal said 28,545 persons, mostly those having travel history outside J&K and having contact with suspect or positive CoVID-19 cases have been put under surveillance.
At least 10,606 persons have been put in hospital quarantine and 12,795 in home quarantine while as 4,376 persons have completed their 28-day surveillance period, he said.
The administration has asked religious leaders not to allow and carry any social ceremony including solemnizing marriage at religious places that can defeat the purpose of social distancing and make people vulnerable to CoVID-19.
