Covid-19: Atmosphere scary after 2 deaths in Srinagar locality

‘More positive cases may surface if locals are tested’

Neyaz Elahi

Srinagar :  Two consecutive deaths due to Covid-19 infection have created panic in Srinagar locality. People are scared and want aggressive testing in the area.

  Father-son duo of Kralpora Hawal locality of Srinagar died within a span of week. A 34 year old man died of Covid-19 infection at SMHS Hospital last week while his father died too of this lethal infection at CD Hospital Srinagar yesterday.

  A 70 year old man Muhammad Maqbool Joo was admitted at Super Specialty Hospital at Shireen Bagh. According to his doctors his attendant son got infected in the hospital after coming in contact with a couple of other attendants.

   He died within less than 24 hours after being admitted in the hospital. His ailing father was shortly shifted to CD Hospital where before his death he was declared positive for Covid-19 infection.

  These two deaths have created panic among the locals in the locality. At least 18 family members of the victim family were quarantined in a hotel. Locals said that all the family members were not tested even after the expiry of 8 days. “We are dumbfound and don’t know what to do. The young man in the locality died on Wednesday last week while the samples of his family members were collected only yesterday and that too after we protested and requested authorities to do so,” a local told KNT.

   “The family has lost two members due to Covid-19 infection and yet the members of family were tested after the expiry of a week. After using our good books and registering protest, authorities agreed to take samples of the family members. This is ridiculous. How can you ignore the family members of a deceased Covid-19 patient and don’t bother to test them for the infection,” said the locals.

    The area has already been declared red-zone. Locals are scared of coming out from their houses. There is pin drop silence in the locality. Neighbours don’t visit a neighbor. “The deceased father-son duo had returned from New Delhi in February this year, when Coronavirus threat was little known. They spend time in New Delhi where Muhammad Maqbool Joo, a cancer patient was admitted in a hospital. Everyone in the locality is scared and wants to get tested. We are quite sure that more positive cases may surface from the locality, if people are tested for this lethal infection,” they told KNT.