COVID-19: Jammu school sealed for flouting closure order

A private higher secondary school in Samba district was sealed on Monday for allegedly flouting the government's order of closure of all educational institutions in Jammu and Kashmir over the novel coronavirus pandemic, an official said.

A team of revenue and police officers, headed by Sub-Divisional Magistrate C P Kotwal, sealed the institution in Vijay Pur area of Jammu region after it was found conducting classes in defiance of the order. It submitted a detailed report to the deputy commissioner, the spokesperson said.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration had last week ordered closure of all educational institutes across the Union territory till March-end as a precautionary measure to deal with the threat posed by the deadly COVID-19.

In a statement on Monday, the administration said 176 people had completed their quarantine period and only two persons tested positive for the infection.

A total of 2,478 travellers and people in contact with suspected cases have been put under surveillance, while 2,095 people are under home quarantine, the official said, quoting the daily media bulletin on COVID-19.

The number of the people who are quarantined in hospitals are 29 and 178 people are under home isolation. As many as 106 samples have been sent for testing, of which 98 tested negative and only two cases tested positive so far, while reports of six cases are awaited till date, according to the statement.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose to 114 on Monday, with Odisha reporting its first COVID-19 patient and a new case each in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The Maharashtra government also reported four more patients of the infection, which the Union Health Ministry did not immediately add to its national count.