SRINAGAR: Two siblings, an eight-year-old boy and seven-month baby, have tested positive for Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, taking the number of cases in the UT to 13, officials said. The siblings are grandchildren of an elderly person from Natipora area of Srinagar, who had returned from Saudi Arabia on March 16 after performing Umrah and tested positive for the virus on March 24.
After the man developed coronavirus-like symptoms, he was shifted to Chest Disease Hospital in Srinagar, where he tested positive. Fourteen of his family members, including wife, sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, were put under quarantine at JLNM hospital.
Medical Superintendent JLNM Hospital Dr Zakir Hussain said the children are asymptomatic and have been shifted to an isolation ward. “We received test results of the two children on Thursday and the reports of others are awaited,” said Dr Zakir. The baby, who is breastfed, will be given formula, Dr Zakir said.
The eight-month-old might be the youngest to be infected with COVID-19 in the country. He, however, said that none of the family members is showing any symptoms of the virus. With two more positive cases on Thursday, the confirmed positive cases in J&K has risen to 13 —10 in Kashmir and three in Jammu. Of the 13 positive cases, one (65-year-old man with travel history within the country) died on Thursday.
Director Health Kashmir Dr Samir Mattoo said 75 contacts of the deceased patient have been under quarantine. Of the 75 contacts, 11 are high-risk contacts, including his family members, and they have been put under surveillance in the hospital. The Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has ordered a probe into the mishandling of the COVID-19 patient, who died on Thursday, by doctors at a hospital.The patient had on March 21 reported to SKIMS Medical College, Bemina, where he was found to be a COVID-19 suspect but doctors had let him go without admitting him and also did not inform the administration. The mishandling gave the patient time to spread the virus by mingling with public and relatives, the official said.
31 arrested in Valley
Police on Thursday arrested 31 people in the Kashmir Valley for violating prohibitory orders imposed under the lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19, a police spokesperson said. He said 14 people were arrested in Awantipora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, while three were taken into custody in Ganderbal district.