Jammu:  Jammu Divisional Commissioner Raghav Langer has made a surprise visit to Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir bordering Punjab, amid a spike in coronavirus cases, and called for a strict vigil on travellers, officials said on Monday.

The late Sunday night visit was necessitated to check efficiency and accountability of COVID-19 set-up at the Lakhanpur entry point in the wake of various type of complaints and non-compliance of the COVID-19 protocol, they said.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has directed the officers concerned to keep extra vigil on travellers coming from outside the Union Territory and not to let anyone go without sampling, the officials said.

Accompanied by Kathua Deputy Commissioner Rahul Yadav and other officers concerned, the newly-appointed divisional commissioner took stock of arrangements being put in place for testing of travellers coming from outside and other COVID control measures, they said.

The officers apprised the divisional commissioner that various counters have been set up for testing of travellers coming from outside the UT, the officials said, adding round-the-clock testing facilities are there and testing is being done through both the modes — RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests (RAT).

After sampling, the asymptomatic patients are sent for home isolation while symptomatic ones are taken to Government Medical College Hospital Kathua, the officials said.

In view of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in some states, the divisional commissioner directed the officials concerned to take all precautionary measures and ensure RT-PCR testing of travellers coming from states, especially Maharashtra, Gujrat, Punjab and others which witnessed surge in novel coronavirus cases in recent times, the officials said.

He also directed the officials to increase testing capacity, they said.

The visit comes a time when Jammu and Kashmir is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The union territory recorded 94 fresh cases on March 15; 97 cases on March 16; 126 on March 17; 140 on March 18; 152 on March 20 and 158 new infections on Sunday.

Press Trust of India