Representative image. Photo: PTI.
Jammu: Twenty people who are suspected to have acquired a coronavirus infection after coming in contact with a 63-year-old woman, who tested positive for COVID-19, are currently being quarantined at a facility in the Bhagwati Nagar Base Camp in Jammu. However, lack of proper briefing and what the patients allege to be heavy-handedness on the part of the police has left them agitated.
Two tehsildars, a deputy superintendent of police, a station house office and other police personnel are currently on the spot telling patients to “quietly sit inside without creating a fuss”.
A lady living in Kargil, and who hails from Jammu, became the union territory’s first confirmed case of the new coronavirus; she had recently travelled to Iran. Shortly after being admitted to the Government Medical College in Bakshi Nagar, Jammu, she ‘fled’ the hospital and is believed to have jeopardised every person she came in contact with. She was later brought back to the medical college.
The 20 suspected cases should have been quarantined at home but the police brought them to the Bhagwati Nagar camp. The police also restricted media coverage citing “orders of the deputy commissioner”.
However, the deputy commissioner of Jammu, Sushma Chauhan said, “They are not even suspected cases yet. We have kept them [here] there as a precautionary measure and I have issued no orders restricting media or others from going near the Bhagwati Nagar Base Camp.” The deputy superintendent police refused to comment.
Rohit Kansal, the principal secretary to the government and who’d been tweeting about the entire situation, told The Wire, “It is a quarantine facility. I will get it checked [as to] why there are so many much police. Further information regarding this will be made public within an hour or two.”