Panic in Anantnag jail after an inmate tested positive for COVID-19

Srinagar, Jul 11: Panic gripped in about 200 detenues and staff members of District Jail Anantnag when an inmate tested positive for COVID-19, official sources said on Saturday.
They said 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 simple for test was also taken for COVID-19 in the hospital before sending him back to jail.
Panic gripped in the entire jail when it was found that Zahoor had tested positive for the infection on Friday, when he was later shifted to hospital.
The family members of Zahoor said they came to know about his testing to positive for COVID-19 only on Saturday.
The family members of other inmates alleged that jail was overcrowded and there was 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 COVID-19.