The Jammu Kashmir administration on Monday said it has tested over 10,000 labourers arriving in the Valley for COVID-19 from July 14-18.
“A total of 10,581 samples from labourers arriving at Qazigund toll post from others states and UTs were collected for coronavirus testing in five days”, an official spokesman said.
“As many as 1,012 samples were collected on July 14, of which only six tested positive”, he said, adding that the results for the remaining 9,569 of the total 10,581 samples collected are awaited, he added.
The administration is apparently responding to criticism from various quarters as to why thousands of labourers from other parts of the country are being allowed into the Kashmir Valley without being first tested for COVID-19.
Giving the break up, he said 2,227 samples were collected on July 15, 2,099 on July 16, 2,350 on July 17 and 2,893 on July 18. There are apprehensions that these labourers are not observing the quarantine guidelines till their test reports are available.
“As per the official data received in this regard, the samples are being collected from the labourers who are arriving in Jammu Kashmir from several other states and UTs”, the spokesman said. (PTI)