Anantnag: The number of police and paramilitary CRPF soldiers testing positive for COVID-19 here in Anantnag district has been a considerable factor in taking the district’s overall tally of the positive patients to 579.
So far more than 200 police personnel and CRPF men have tested positive for the disease in this south Kashmir district, which means that the men in uniform constitute around 35 per cent of the overall number of positive patients in Anantnag district.
Anantnag was one of the last districts in Kashmir valley to have had its first COVID-19 positive case on around April 16.
“The first real surge in the number of cases came around May 20 here in the district after more than 80 policemen were found COVID-19 positive in the District Police Lines,” a senior official in the district administration said.
This surge was reported after the curve in the district was seen flattening in the second week of May. Kashmir Reader had reported on May 12 how only 2 positive cases were reported in the district in as many as 5 days.
“The cases remained on the lower side until the surge from DPL contributed heavily and the curve started to rise again,” the official said.
Now, in the recent days, another similar surge has again been reported from a CRPF camp in Uranhall area of Anantnag district, taking the total tally even further to 579.
“This 90 Bn camp has so far witnessed more than 130 cases of COVID-19,” the official said, adding that most of them have been erroneously added to the tally of Anantnag district.
The official said that the camp comes within the jurisdiction of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Kugam’s office and the first batch of 30 cases from the camp was added to the tally of Kulgam district.
“But the rest of them have been attributed to our district. Erroneously or otherwise, it has further taken the curve for our district upwards,” the official said.
Anantnag is presently at number 4 in the number of total positive cases. Kulgam tops the list with 643 cases.
The good news for Anantnag, however, has been the number of recoveries.
“We have had 386 recoveries thus far and presently we have only 188 active positive cases of the COVID-19,” the official said. The district has also witnessed 5 deaths due to the disease so far.

Suhail A Shah