Srinagar: The health department is yet to start screening and contact tracing of the elderly woman, a resident of Danderkhah locality in Batamaloo, who died on Thursday at SMHS Hospital due to Covid-19.
According to locals, the area was sanitised by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation on Friday but there has been no intervention by the health department and the district administration so far.
“We have called the helpline numbers and volunteered for screening and Covid-19 testing, but no official has asked us to come forward,” a group of youths from the locality said.
“We are apprehensive that the infection may spread among others as there are no restrictions in place despite the area being declared as a red zone,” they said.
Elders of the neighbourhood have appealed to the district administration but there has been no response to them either.
“No official or expert team has visited this place to enforce the lockdown and conduct necessary screening,” a next-door neighbour of the deceased woman told Kashmir Reader.
“Some traders have opened their shops also in the locality,” he added.
The elderly woman from Danderkhah died a day before her test reports came positive for the novel coronavirus on Friday. According to officials, the 65-year-old woman had pneumonia and other underlying ailments. She died on Thursday evening at SMHS Hospital after her condition deteriorated.
Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Samir Matoo, said that screening of the area will start soon. However, the sample collection of relatives and neighbours will begin only after five days of quarantine.
“The Batamaloo area was a red zone even before her death, so the process of screening is already going on,” he said.
“People need to stay indoors in red zones and cooperate with us as our doctors and paramedics are working tirelessly on the ground to contain the spread of coronavirus,” he said.
According to him, the sampling collection and testing of residents of Danderkhah locality will happen after five days of mandatory quarantine.
“We have to follow the protocol, otherwise there will be confusion. Our staff is overburdened already,” the director said.

Manzoor ul-Hassan