Cinema halls in entire Jammu region to be shut till March 31

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has ordered closure of primary schools and aganwadi centres in five districts of Jammu and cinema halls across the region till March 31 as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus scare.

While only one person has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus in the union territory, one person has reported with high viral-load, officials said.

His samples have been sent to the National Centre for Disease Control in New Delhi for confirmation, they said.

"# COVID19 #JammuAndKashmir Cinema Halls in all 10 districts of Jammu province to remain closed till March 31," Principal Secretary, Information, Rohit Kansal tweeted.

He said all primary schools and anganwadi centres will be closed in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur districts.

Director National Health Mission (NHM) Bhupinder Kumar urged people to not panic and pay heed to rumours regarding COVID-19.

Giving a detailed break up about the suspected coronavirus cases in the union territory, he said 705 travellers and people in contact with suspected cases have been put under active surveillance.

Of these, 150 people have completed the surveillance period of 28 days, while nine are under hospital quarantine.

As many as 56 samples of suspected cases have been sent for testing so far and 26 of them have reported negative, he told reporters. Of the earlier two cases who were reported with high viral-load, one person has tested positive and another is being re-tested, while 29 reports are awaited, he said.

Spelling out measures being taken up to contain the coronavirus spread, the NHM director said the union territory has strengthened the surveillance and control measures against the disease and Helpline numbers have already been established for advice and assistance in this regard.

Besides, coronavirus lab testing facilities have been started in Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, and Government Medical College, Jammu.

Control rooms and surveillance teams have been constituted in all districts of the union territory to meet any sort of eventuality, he said.

Kumar said universal self-declaration has been made mandatory at Jammu and Srinagar airports. Besides, screening of travellers has also been started at Lakhanpur and Lower Munda toll posts as well as Jammu, Katra and Udhampur Railway stations.

He assured people that the whole situation is being monitored and reviewed very closely at all levels.

He asked people, especially those with travel history to affected countries such as China, Italy, Iran, South Korea etc, to self declare immediately and report to the nearest government health facility if any symptoms are found.