Senior IAS officer tests positive for COVID-19 in Jammu & Kashmir

A senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir following which several bureaucrats and doctors, who attended a meeting with him on Saturday, have gone into self-quarantine, officials said.

The officer, who is posted as the principal secretary to the government, was tested for coronavirus infection at Jammu airport on his return from Srinagar and his report came positive on Saturday night, the officials said.

He became the first IAS officer to test positive for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

Last week, the wife and son of an advisor to the Lt Governor tested positive for the disease after they came back from Delhi.

The advisor subsequently went into administrative quarantine though his test came negative.

The IAS officer, who is also assisting the health and medical education department in COVID-19 management in addition to his own duties, had attended a high-level meeting after his return from Srinagar on Saturday, the officials said.

They said several top bureaucrats and doctors attended the meeting, prompting them to go into self-quarantine. They will undergo tests later in the day.

Jammu and Kashmir has recorded a total of 2,341 coronavirus positive cases including 1,853 in the valley and 488 in Jammu region till Saturday evening.

While 28 patients -- 25 in Kashmir and three in Jammu – died of the infection, 908 others have been cured and subsequently discharged from the hospital.