J-K's Ganderbal declared coronavirus-free

Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir was on Saturday declared coronavirus-free as all 14 patients recovered from the infection and were discharged from hospital, officials said.

"Ganderbal district is coronavirus-free today as all the earlier 14 coronavirus positive cases have recovered," Deputy Commissioner S hafqat Iqbal told PTI.

Iqbal said all the 14 patients were discharged from the District Hospital Ganderbal, in central Kashmir, 22 kms from here.

"All of them have been put under quarantine for 14 days and have been asked to take all necessary precautions," he said.

The deputy commissioner said the test results of samples taken on Thursday and Friday have returned negative.

"Reports of 31 samples taken on Thursday were negative, while reports of 36 samples taken on Friday have also been received and all are negative," Iqbal said.

The Union Health Ministry has classified Ganderbal district as Orange zone.

The government has classified districts across states and union territories into Red, Orange and Green zones.

Districts with zero confirmed cases till date or districts with no confirmed cases in the last 21 days fall in the Green zone, while those under the Red one, popularly known as ''Hot Spots'' are based on number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases and extent of testing and surveillance feedback.

Districts falling neither under Green or Red zones come under the Orange zone.