WATSUPP.COM NEWS DESK | JAMMU

Jammu reports single day highest 75 cases

Eighty six persons including many top IAS/KAS officers, some of them in the ranks of Principal and Commissioner Secretaries, were identified as contacts of a top bureaucrat, who had tested positive for Corona yesterday, and were sent for home quarantine while Jammu region today witnessed single day highest 75 COVID cases including 47 in Ramban and 23 in Doda districts, taking total number of cases in the region beyond 550.
An Advisor’s wife and son, who had tested Corona positive few days back and were admitted in Narayana Hospital at Kakryal Katra, were discharged today after testing negative twice, officials said.
Flying Escort Gypsy driver of top bureaucrat in the rank of Financial Commissioner today tested Corona positive after his return from Anantnag district in South Kashmir where he had gone for Eid celebrations at home. He had parked the Gypsy at Anantnag District Police Lines (DPL), where some of cops had already tested positive. On his return, he was sampled at Nagrota and today he tested positive. However, the driver, a resident of Nawabad, Sunjwan, hadn’t come in contact with the Financial Commissioner after his return from the Valley as he had been sent into administrative quarantine.
A police personnel of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) who had been working in Establishment Section at the Central Office of the Organization here and had returned after celebrating Eid with his family at Kulgam in South Kashmir, also tested positive today. He was putting up at Government quarters in Rehari.
A person from Chowki Chowra in Akhnoor kept police on toes for over eight hours and was traced at Mohalla Paharian in Jammu City tonight where he was hiding after testing positive. He works in Ware House and his contact tracing is on.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the administration has identified around 45 contacts of a Corona positive senior IAS officer in Jammu and 41 in Kashmir in the rank of Principal Secretary, Commissioner/ Secretary and Secretaries among others, and asked them to quarantine at home. Majority of them are officers and officials besides the family members.
“All contacts of the bureaucrat have been traced within few hours and sent for home quarantine,” sources said, adding they were around 45 in Jammu including top bureaucrats, officers/officials, family members and personal staff. The bureaucrat was late last night shifted to Narayana Hospital at Kakryal in Katra.
Seven senior bureaucrats who were today sent on home quarantine for being contacts of the positive IAS officer included three in the rank of Principal Secretaries, one Commissioner/Secretary, a senior Commissioner and two Secretaries.
After attending the meeting with the IAS positive, the senior officers had proceeded to their houses and were with their families whose family members are in Jammu. However, families of some of the officers were not here, sources pointed out.
In Srinagar, sources said, the Corona positive IAS officer had chaired meetings at Srinagar Airport and one each at Civil Secretariat Srinagar and Divisional Commissioner’s office and he had 41 primary contacts there including top bureaucrats and officials, all of whom have been sent on quarantine.
They include a Principal Secretary, four Secretaries, three senior IAS officers, Airport officials, paramilitary official, senior officials of the Health Department and prominent functionaries of Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
Two senior officers in Kashmir, both IAS including a District Magistrate were sampled this morning and both of them tested negative for the virus. One of them was primary contact of the IAS officer while another one was secondary contact.
Yesterday, a top bureaucrat, a Financial Commissioner, a Principal Secretary, another senior IAS officer in Disaster Management Authority, a KAS officer, the GMC Jammu Principal, Director National Health Mission, Director Health Services Jammu, Managing Director Medical Supplies Corporation, Microbiologist, Epidemiologist etc had gone on home quarantine after the IAS officer tested positive as all of them had attended meeting with him.