Srinagar: Deputy Commissioner Shopian, Yasin Choudhary, on Sunday said there was no protocol disregard in the case of a couple testing positive for COVID-19 after 14 days of quarantine in Shopian.
Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Choudhary wrote an appeal to residents of Shopian, saying five positive cases of COVID-19 are confirmed from the district.
“Please don’t fall for misreports of protocol disregard for Beminipora couple. Positive cases can show symptoms even after initial 14 day institutional quarantine period,” he said.
Local reports said that the couple tested had positive for the dreaded disease on Saturday, three days after they had been discharged after a fortnight’s quarantine. During the quarantine period, the couple was not tested despite having travel history to Saudi Arabia from where they had arrived after performing Umrah. The couple had shared the flight with the Kashmir’s first positive case, a 67-year-old woman from Srinagar who has been since discharged from SKIMS Soura.
“Soon after reading news on social media about the Kashmir’s first COVID-19 patient, I called BMO Shopian and informed him that my parents had arrived by the same flight on March 16,” elder son of the couple said. Before reaching home, he said his parents had been screened at Jeddah, Kerala, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Srinagar airports.
“The BMO asked me to shift them to PHC Tukroo where my parents and others were kept in quarantine. The women were kept in one room and males in a separate room,” he said, adding, “we urged the health authorities to test them but they declined, saying that it would be done only after symptoms develop.” He said the authorities even declined to ensure proper distancing in the rooms as they were “clogged together”.
Rejecting the family claims, Choudhary also added that the district administration assures that it is working round the clock to secure one and all.