Top J-K officials self-quarantine after IAS officer tests coronavirus positive

Tribune News Service
Jammu, May 31

Jammu and Kashmir reported a new coronavirus case as a senior IAS officer tested positive for the disease, taking the total cases in the union territory to 2,342.

The officer, of the rank of Principal Secretary, had visited Srinagar, where he had held meetings with other officials to assess the conditions of the returnees to the region. On his return to Jammu, he tested positive.

Most of his colleagues and his superiors have been quarantined. Some of them have been shifted to a hotel in Jammu, while others have been ordered to stay home for at least 14 days. Several of these officers have become incommunicado.

Over a dozen top officials went into self-quarantine on Sunday.

The officer had attended a meeting in which other senior officers like a Financial Commissioner-rank officer, a Principal Secretary, and officials of the Health and Medical Education Departments had participated. A Government Medical College Principal, a senior microbiologist and an epidemiologist also attended the meeting.

Health officials said that the mandatory protocol will be followed in respect of all those who participated in the meeting and those showing flu-like symptoms will be shifted to institutional quarantine. —with IANS