Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, March 26

As the number of persons who tested positive for coronavirus swelled to 14 with three new cases in Jammu and Kashmir, the UT administration today announced that it would take legal action against the people violating the 21-day-long lockdown.

The government, while tightening the restrictions, also closed all petrol pumps in Jammu city to keep people indoors. “The first priority is to give passes to health professionals, followed by pharmacists and perishable industry. Pumps will open later. No need to worry as things will stabilise in three-four days,” Sushma Chauhan, District Magistrate, Jammu, said.

Apart from corporal punishment, the police, in some areas, have now started putting stamps reading “Corona lockdown violator” on forearms and foreheads of the violators. The police have been using permanent ink that would take around 15 days to erase. The move also brought sharp criticism from a section of the society.

“Those violating the lockdown orders can face legal action under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which lays down punishment as per Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for flouting such orders,” the UT government said in its advisory.

According to the government, 5,482 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases have been enlisted for surveillance and, so far, 14 cases have tested positive in Jammu and Kashmir, including 12 active positive, a recovered and the death of an infected person in Kashmir. In Jammu, the district administration, however, had claimed that two out of three infected persons have recovered.

The daily media bulletin on novel coronavirus (Covid-19) disclosed that 3,053 persons have been kept under home quarantine, including at facilities operated by the government, while 117 are in hospital quarantine.

Persons who are under home surveillance stand at 1,761, while 551 persons have completed their 28-day surveillance period.

Further, the bulletin said 379 samples had been sent for testing, of which 341 tested negative and 13 cases tested positive, of which one recovered and one died. It said reports of 25 cases were awaited till March 26.