Jammu and Kashmir: Panic in Anantnag jail after inmate tests positive for COVID-19
Srinagar/UNI: Panic gripped about 200 detenues and staff members of District Jail Anantnag when an inmate tested positive for COVID-19, official sources said on Saturday.
The inmate identified as Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, younger brother of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, has since been shifted to district hospital on Friday afternoon.
Bhat, booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) was lodged in Rajasthan jail before shifting him to Sub-Jail, Kupwara in north Kashmir in February. He was later shifted in March to Anantnag jail, where ten more prisoners have developed symptoms of the infection.
According to reports Zahoor had complained of fever and chills in the jail early this morning. However, he was administered medicines and injection, his sample for test was also taken for COVID-19 in the hospital before sending him back to jail.
On learning that Zahoor has tested positive for Corona on Friday, panic gripped the entire jail. He was then shifted to a hospital.
The family members of Zahoor said they came to know about his testing to positive for COVID-19 only on Saturday.
Families of other inmates alleged that jail was overcrowded and there were no measures to control the spread of infection.
They said against the capacity of just 60 inmates, there are over 200 detenues lodged in the jail.
Official sources said that all the inmates of the jail will be tested for the contagion.
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