Authorities in Jammu & Kashmir were vigorously tracking the travel history of Union Territory’s first COVID-19 victim as nearly 50 of those who came into contact with the victim have already been shifted to quarantine facilities.
Four of these quarantined persons have already tested positive for the virus.
Health officials said the deceased patient had a chequered travel trajectory and it was logical to assume that he had come into contact with a much higher number of persons than have been traced so far. “He was in Delhi where he is reported to have come into contact with Indonesian, Malaysian and Italian citizens. He has visited Samba and Jammu towns before he came back to the valley.
“He had attended a religious congregation in Sopore and met dozens of people in Srinagar city”, health officials said.
The fact that he had been evading isolation and treatment as per the standard operating procedure (SoP) for such patients, was also worrisome. “The fact is that he was symptomatically a full blown case before he was isolated and admitted is very worrisome”, said a doctor.