Village in Poonch declared as red zone, adjoining villages as buffer zones

After recording the first COVID-19 case, authorities in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday declared a village as a red zone and its surrounding villages as buffer zones to prevent the spread of the infection.

Hari village in Surankote tehsil has been declared as a red zone while the adjoining Mohra Bachai, Sangla, Marhote and Dadi villages have been declared as buffers zones, District Magistrate Poonch,Rahul Yadav said in an order.

He said the area falling within the radius of 300 m of the quarantine centre --Government Higher Secondary School Hari -- has been declared as a containment zone.

A labourer, who had recently returned from Himachal Pradesh, was tested positive on Saturday, making him the first case in the border district, which along with Doda district, had remained COVID-19 free so far.

Jammu and Kashmir had recorded 13 deaths, including 11 in Kashmir and two in the Jammu region, while the number of positive cases has crossed 1,150-mark with nearly 150 in the Jammu region.

The district magistrate declared Aral, Plera, Chilkri, Sansal upper and Mohra Java as buffer zones.

"The area has become more vulnerable as far as further transmission of COVID-19 is concerned. It is necessary to break further transmission of the disease in the area and it becomes imperative to take stringent precautionary measures like declaring some villages as containment/red zone and surrounding areas as a buffer zone," the district magistrate said.

Invoking prohibitory orders, he said there would be no inward and outward movement of any person from these villages and people would stay at their homes to ensure complete lockdown.

He said there would be no vehicular movement on internal roads.