Heerpora village infection hub

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 23

Heerpora, the last village to the south of Kashmir along the Mughal Road, has turned into a major infection hotspot as 42 persons have tested positive for the virus.

Home to Kashmir’s largest wildlife sanctuary and having a population of only 800 people, Heerpora has seen a major spike in coronavirus cases in the past two days. It reported eight cases on Thursday.

“We have never seen people falling sick like this. We are supplied clean drinking water and maintain good hygiene. We would always feel insulated from viral or bacterial infections,” said Sheikh Aijaz, Heerpora sarpanch.

The village saw the first coronavirus cases on April 8, when four workers of the Tablighi Jamaat, who had returned from Maharashtra, tested positive for the virus. Since then, the number has continued to rise.

“Another spike in cases today, mostly from existing red zone and contacts of those with congregation history, some hid facts and resisted testing. But we have been testing aggressively and maintain our rate. It’s been an extremely taxing month, but our teams shall continue working tirelessly,” Deputy Commissioner, Shopian, Yasin Choudhary has tweeted.

Heerpora is one of the 70 localities declared as red zones in Kashmir after witnessing more than two virus cases at the same place and time.

Officials said of the nine wards of Heepora, located on both sides of the Mughal road, four were hit by coronavirus.

Zonal Medical Officer, Sedaw, Dr Adil Malik, said eight fresh cases had been reported from Heerpora on Thursday.

Explaining the magnitude of the spread of the virus in Heerpora, Malik said in a ward of 32 houses, at least 26 persons were found positive for coronavirus.

“We have started mass testing in Heerpora to contain the spread of the virus. We have done 100 per cent door-to-door surveillance,” Malik said.

Heerpora was once famous for large production of red skin potato. It would annually produce thousands of quintals of the high-priced potato variety. However, locals had to convert major chunk of the land into apple orchards after the potato crop was affected by a fungal infection, decreasing productivity.