Altaf Hamid Rao.
Symptoms of One Out Of 9 found positive: DC, DHO Mirur,
MIRPUR (AJK): The first and only case of corona virus victim has been detected in Azad Jammu Kashmir – but with out of danger condition – after the concerned National Institute of Health Islamabad declared only one out of all nine cases positive, authorities here have said.
Our AJK Correspondent Altaf Hamid Rao reports from Mirpur that while addressing an emergent press conference at the DC office here Wednesday afternoon, Mirpur Deputy Commissioner Raja Tahir Imtiaz and District Health Officer Dr. Fida Hussain said that laboratory tests to detect the virus symptoms in only affectee – the 45-year-old male patient with throat swab (SARS-CoV-2) were found positive by the Department of Virology, Public Health Laboratories Division, National Institute of Health Islamabad on Tuesday, belonged to Sudhanoti (Palandri) district of Azad Jammu Kashmir. He had landed from Tuftan (Baluchistan) after travelling from Iran, along with nine others through the Dera Ghazi Khan few days back.
They said that all the nine affectees were kept in Courantyne and Isolation centers at the Hospital in New Mirpur city and the Divisional Headquarter Hospital Mirpur under close monitoring for next 14 days under the stipulated Standard Operating Procedure of the hospitalization of such patients suffering the virus.
“All the 9 samples were sent to the NIH Islamabad, of which only one was found positive and he too has not threat to his life as his treatment is in progress in the special Isolation Center set up in the State-run Hospital in New Mirpur city”, the DC and DHO said.
To a question, the DHO Dr. Fida Hussain said that only the healthy person was kept in Courantyne Center just after the doubt of emerging of symptoms of the virus. He said that all four of the persons admitted in Courantyne Center in Mirpur DHQ hospital has been discharged so far after their samples were found and declared negative by the NIH Islamabad. Rest of them were kept at the NIH as the extra pre-cautionary measures under the prevailing SOP to deal with the situation.
It may be added that three Courantyne centers have been established at the DHQ hospitals one each at the divisional headquarters of Mirpur, Rawalakot and Muzaffarabad to immediately deal with the virus.
Four of those being kept in Mirpur Divisional HQ Hospital in Courantyne Centers were being treated in isolation under the required one person-one-room strategy in intensive care, the DHO said while responding to a query.
Mirpur Deputy Commissioner Tahir Mumtaz said, while responding to a query, that adequate arrangements have been made on emergency grounds to make due checking of the people moving to and from this district at both the major entry and exit points of Mangla and Dadyal through the two 8-hour shifts of checking of the travelers for detecting the symptoms round-the-clock. He said that quick response force has also been put on high alert to immediately deal with any eventuality if emerged.
The DC disclosed that a fully equipped latest Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was being established within next two to three days at the Mirpur DHQ Hospital to effectively deal with the patients if emerged.
Responding to a question about disappearance of the masks of all kinds in the open market, the DC admitted the positive and said that the AJK government has principally decided to manage the production of the masks on its own as reportedly decided by the top State authorities.
Tahir Mumtaz emphasized the need of adopting due pre-cautionary measures to avert the threat of the corona virus that has created hype the world over since past many days – since this could not emerge as life threatening if due immediate safety measures were not adopted – primarily by washing hands, time and again in the daily life and avoiding touching including embracing and hand-shaking each other especially in these days harmed by the virus that gripped various parts of the world, he underlined.