Coronavirus: 21 J-K residents arrive back from China, no positive case found

Twenty-one people arrived back to Jammu and Kashmir from coronavirus-hit China this week and they have been kept under home observation, officials said on Wednesday.

No case of coronavirus has been found in the UT so far, they added.

As many as 21 persons -- seven from Jammu and 14 from Kashmir -- have arrived in Srinagar and Jammu during the last few days and they have been kept under home isolation, a senior officer of the Health department told PTI.

Tests were conducted on 11 passengers -- seven from Jammu and four from Kashmir -- and sent to a laboratory in Pune, he said.

Of these, seven reports have arrived back and all of them are negative, the officer added.

"All these people are under observation and are being monitored. They have been asked to remain in isolation and take necessary precautions. However, no one has been hospitalised," he said.

Financial Commissioner, Health, Atul Dulloo said the government has established a 33-bedded isolation ward at Government Medical College Jammu for coronavirus cases and 22-bedded such facility at GMC Srinagar, SKIMS Soura and Maternity Hospital Sanathnagar in the Kashmir valley.

The sample taking facility has been kept at GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu, he added.

"The government is not taking any chances on the issue of coronavirus and all those arriving from China, Nepal and other countries are being monitored," Dulloo said.

The new strain of coronavirus, which originated in Hubei province in central China late last year, has so far killed 490 people in that country and infected further 24,324. Globally, around 130 cases have been reported and three of them are from Kerala, India.