Aggressive contact tracing underway in Udhampur after first COVID-19 death in Jammu region

Udhampur/Jammu, Apr 12 () After a woman died of coronavirus in Udhampur, the first fatality in Jammu region, the district authorities have gone for aggressive contact tracing and declared her village as a "red zone", imposing stricter social distancing measures, officials said on Sunday.

So far 106 contacts, both direct and indirect, have been traced and sent to administrative quarantine from Tikri, the native village of the 61-year-old woman who suffered from arthritis before succumbing to COVID-19, the officials said.

They said 46 high-risk contacts were subjected to COVID-19 test, of whom six family members and a pharmacist, who visited the woman to deliver medicines, have tested positive for the virus.

No person is allowed to move out or enter the village after it was declared a red zone. The areas surrounding the village have been declared "buffer zones".

"The drive is still on to identify all contacts of the woman and other positive cases in the village," Deputy commissioner Piyush Singla said.

Seeking cooperation of people, he said wearing masks has been made mandatory in the red zone, where astrict lockdown is being implemented.

"Only medicine outlets in Gole Market area and opposite district Hospital in Udhampur town shall be allowed to open,"he said. CORR/TAS ABHABH