Anantnag: About 74 percent of positive Covid-19 cases in Kulgam, which remains worst-affected in Jammu and Kashmir, constitute travellers entering Kashmir.
Kulgam district witnessed its first case in March. The cases remained a few till the travel restrictions remained in place.
But the cases in the south Kashmir district started swelling soon after people from other parts of the country started returning home.
Currently, the total tally of positive cases stand at 255. Of them, 187 are people who came from outside constituting around 74 percent of the total cases detected positive in the district.
Officials in Kulgam say that most of returnees who were recorded positive came from Delhi.
“Out of the 187, who tested positive among the returnees, 180 have come from Delhi,” Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kulgam, Showkat Aijaz Bhat told Kashmir Reader.
He insisted that the some tested negative while all others have been quarantined.
The remaining positive cases among the travellers returned home from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bangladesh.
Jammu and Kashmir has presently a total of 2036 COVID-19 positive cases out of which 896 (44 per cent) are travellers. Of this, Kulgam district contribute 20 percent.
The neighbouring Anantnag district has only 7.6 per cent of the cases who are travellers.
Bhat attributes high number of travellers testing positive to aggressive testing being conducted by the administration.
“We have not been complacent with the testing. Around 63,00 people from the district have returned home and each and every one among them has been tested for the Coronavirus,” he said adding that the district has also ensured strict quarantine routines for the people returning home.

Suhail A Shah