9 more cases in Shopian; doctor says it is community transmission

9 more cases in Shopian; doctor says it is community transmission

InShopian : Covid-19 cases continue to mount in Shopian district with nine more cases reported on Thursday, taking the district’s tally to 55. Of these, 42 are from Hirpora area alone. Eleven patients from the district have recovered so far and have been home quarantined.

According to locals of Hirpora, family members, relatives and friends were found positive after the initially reported cases. Doctors say that community transmission has happened and there may be more cases in the region.

“Yes, it is a community spread as at one mohalla more than 20 persons are infected. Only mass testing will tell what the situation is,” a doctor, wishing not to be named, said.

He said that people escaping from Red Zones in the district is putting the larger population at risk.

Reports from Bemnipora area are disturbing as one of the contacts of the initial cases (a person who returned from Umrah) was found positive 40 days after the pilgrim returned to Kashmir. Locals say that the person met many people during these 40 days and many of them have not been quarantined yet.

Locals from Hirpora accused the authorities of neglecting the area despite being declared a red zone. Two local residents who spoke to Kashmir Reader said that sanitation was done only in one locality while in another locality where some positive cases had been reported, no sanitation was done.

Deputy Commissioner Shopian Choudhary Muhammad Yasin refuted such accusations and said that sanitation is being done twice a week everywhere.

He informed that a total 587 samples for Covid-19 testing have been taken from the district so far, of which 330 have been taken from Hirpora alone.

Chief Medical Officer Shopian Dr Ramesh told Kashmir Reader that 606 samples have been taken so far from the district. “301 samples came from Hirpora and 42 persons there were found positive,” he said.

When asked about community transmission in Shopian, he said “We are conducting mass testing in Hirpora now.”

Asked about the person who was found positive after 40 days of coming in contact with a Covid-19 patient, Dr Ramesh said that many cases are asymptomatic and people didn’t report to authorities despite coming into contact with infected persons.

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