SRINAGAR: Two brothers from Kashmir studying in a medical college in Bangladesh returned to India on Wednesday but underwent varying experiences.
One of them took a flight to reach Srinagar the next day and was put under 14-day quarantine by authorities after landing at Srinagar airport, while another travelled to Jammu by train and took a cab from Jammu to reach his residence in the Valley to escape screening and quarantine-a must for travellers arriving from other states.
The second brother would have gone undetected had not his neighbour informed the officials, who rushed health officials to pick him up from his residence and put him in quarantine.
“He is symptomatic,” an official said.
The administration in Srinagar has identified 3800 rooms in 64 hotels and government accommodations for use as quarantine facilities for residents arriving in Srinagar and those who could potentially come in contact with Kashmir’s only COVID-19 positive case (a 65-year-old woman from Srinagar with travel history to Saudi Arabia).
Officials said some travellers returning from abroad are using different “means and tricks” to escape screening and quarantine, thus putting the entire population at risk of coronavirus.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said a Kashmiri girl returning from the US posed as a student returning from Bangladesh to escape screening.
In another case, four passengers reached Srinagar airport through Mauritius, Dubai and Kazakhstan but refused to share travel history.
However, the IT team traced their back tour and quarantined them, while a Kashmiri coming from Italy reached New Delhi via another port.