Quarantined Bangladesh-return students to go home today

Srinagar: Hundreds of students who had been put under quarantine by J&K administration will be allowed to go to their residences from today, making the facilities available for other ‘under observation’ individuals.

In a bid to open up spaces for housing people requiring quarantine or observation, hundreds of students will be allowed to proceed to their homes starting Monday.

An official told Greater Kashmir that the decision to allow students to move to their homes and remain under quarantine in homes was taken to facilitate spaces for the growing number of contacts of positive patients requiring quarantine.

Currently, the official said, about 120 people have been housed at JLNM Hospital and scores have been moved to Kashmir Nursing Home.

However, due to the growing number of positive cases, the official said, these facilities are running short of beds for the people required to be observed mandatorily.

“We are seriously short of spaces, and more so of decent ones that can house contacts of positive cases for two weeks in safe and dignified manner,” an official said.

He added that the spaces opening up after the students are allowed to proceed to their homes will be sanitized and reused.

DC Srinagar Shahid Chaudhary confirmed that students will be allowed to move to their homes.

“Many of those under quarantine will complete two weeks on Monday. “In the next 4-5 days, all 2000 should be in home quarantine,” he said.

He acknowledged that the spaces will be put to use for future quarantine needs.

Many experts had criticized the move to quarantine students returning from Bangladesh which they said was a country with low burden of COVID19.

“None from those who were quarantined was positive while so many others, who were not even screened properly, although they came from high load countries have eventually resulted in a chain of positives,” a senior physician working at J&K health and medical education department said.

GK