J&K BJP unit president Ravinder Raina on Tuesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus, forcing Union Minister Dr. Jitender Singh and national vice president Avinash Rai Khanna to go into self-quarantine.
“I had been staying in Kashmir’s Bandipora for five days after our party leader Wasim Bari was killed by militants. I felt some mild fever on Tuesday and my swab sample turned out to be COVID-19 positive,” Mr. Raina said.
He was accompanied by BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, Dr. Singh and Mr. Khanna on July 12 when they visited the house of Bari, who was killed by militants along with his father and brother.
Dr. Singh and Mr. Khanna, in their tweets, confirmed that they were going into “self-isolation and self-quarantine”.
A BJP source said around 20 leaders have been isolated after the reports. “All workers who met Mr. Raina will undergo a test,” another BJP functionary said.
8 die due to infection
Eight more infected patients, including a CRPF jawan, died in J&K, taking the toll to 195.
The dead included a 35-year-old CRPF man and a 47-year-old agriculture officer.
According to the official figures, 346 positive cases were reported on Tuesday in the Union Territory (UT).
The official said, “290 cases were reported from Kashmir and 56 from Jammu.”
The number of infected people stands at 11,173. Srinagar has the highest number of infected people with 1,933 cases followed by Baramulla 1,337.
