Six patients, including two religious preachers, tested positive for COVID-19 in Srinagar on Friday, taking the number of cases in J&K to 20.
The authorities have turned several mosques in Pulwama into administrative quarantine centres.
Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
J&K government spokesman Rohit Kansal said two of the six positive cases had history of travel abroad and the other two had gone outside J&K as a part of religious congregation.
“Around 5,763 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases have been put under surveillance. Five reports are still awaited,” said an official.
One person associated with the religious group Tableeg-i-Jamaat died on Thursday in Srinagar. Five of his contacts have already tested positive and many more are in various quarantine facilities in Kashmir.
Two more positive cases were confirmed from Rajouri district in Jammu. “One is a family member of Thursday's confirmed case, the other has a contact history with a confirmed (now deceased) case," said J&K government spokesman Rohit Kansal.
“People associated with the Jamaat are living in certain mosques in Pulwama after returning from various places, which puts these mosques at the risk of spreading infection. Such mosques are therefore declared administrative quarantine centres,” Deputy Commissioner, Pulwama, Dr. Raghav Langar said in an order.
PDP deplores police action
A day after the J&K police filed 38 First Information Reports (FIRs), seized 547 vehicles and sealed shops for violation of the lockdown, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expressed its dismay.
“All efforts to check the spread of the virus is appreciated, but beating up, humiliating and torturing people on the pretext of enforcing lockdown must be viewed seriously. Especially in Kashmir, government employees engaged in essential services, including doctors, were allegedly harassed and beaten,” said PDP spokesperson and ex-legislator Firdous Tak.
He said there should be a visible difference between lawbreakers and enforcers. “Nothing permits a police personnel to take the law into his own hand and resort to inhuman and shameful methods. A humane approach is need of the hour,” Mr. Tak added.
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