Srinagar : People who have completed their quarantined period of 14 days in hotels and hospitals have to be isolated at home as they can have coronavirus symptoms even after two weeks, officials said.
For last around one week, authorities have allowed hundreds of students and businessmen to go to their homes after completing their quarantined period of 14 days in various hotels and hospitals.
“They have been allowed to go home with the advice that they must remain in home quarantine for another 14 days,” a senior official told Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
The official however said they have received reports that these people are not taking any preventive measures at home. “These people could show symptoms of coronavirus even after 14 days. But it is very disturbing that relatives of these people meet and greet them,” the official told KINS.
Authorities have been using a 14 day quarantine or active monitoring period for individuals who are known to be very high risk of infection due to contact with known cases or travel to a heavily affected area.
The official said it has been seen that some people have shown symptoms of coronavirus even after 14 days. “People who completed quarantined in hotels or hospitals have to be isolated at home for next two more weeks,” the official said.
Authorities made quarantine accommodations for people in different hotels who returned from various parts. Majority of them are students who returned from Bangladesh are now being allowed to go home after completing 14 days in quarantine.
Recently it was seen in Shopian that two persons tested positive even after they had been for 14 days in quarantine. “They did not show any symptoms for two weeks and were allowed to go home. A lot of people had gathered at their home to greet them. After which it came to know they have been tested positive,” another official told KINS.
Health experts also believe incubation period of COVID-19 varies from two weeks to one month.
“What we have seen in China and various other countries, the incubation period of coronavirus varies from two weeks to one month. If there is strict lockdown, its effects could be seen after two weeks,” Medical Superintendent of Shar-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura Dr Farooq Jan has said.
The incubation period means the time between catching the virus and beginning to have symptoms of the disease
“If people maintain distance, use hand sanitisers and stay inside their homes, then we will be able to combat it,” he added. (KINS)
