Coronavirus: In A First, Horse Sent To 14-day Quarantine In J&K

A senior official told Outlook that the owner of the horse has been tested for Covid-19 and his results are awaited.

Updated on: 27 May 2020 11:37 am

A horse in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district has been sent to 14-day quarantine and its caretakers have been advised to take precautions while taking care of the animal. They have been told not to go near it or ride it for the next 14 days. Officials have taken this “extreme measure” after the health department told them that the horse could be a possible carrier of Covid-19 as he has travelled from red-zone areas.

On Tuesday evening, a man who was travelling back to Rajouri district from Kashmir, was stopped on Mughal road for screening and then sent to 14 days administrative quarantine. A senior official told Outlook that the man has been tested for Covid-19 and his results are awaited. But at the same time, officials were perturbed with what do with his horse.

“We called experts from animal husbandry department and they suggested that the horse could become a career as well. So we asked its caretakers not to use it for riding or go near it without taking precautions,” Sher Singh, additional DC, Rajouri, told Outlook. He said the horse had been handed over to the caretakers with directions to use all precautions as enlisted in the standard operating procedure. The experts will also be examining the horse during its quarantine period, he said.

Since the man and his horse had taken Mughal road, administration in Rajouri became more concerned as Hirpora village along Mughal road in Kashmir Valley had recently become a Covid-19 hotspot after 41 people tested positive for the virus.

The village, which connects Kashmir Valley with Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu, is the last one on Kashmir’s side.

“We recently had a Covid-19 positive case who had returned to Rajouri from Hirpora hamlet. That is why we are taking all precautions, including home quarantine for the horse,” Singh said. Currently, there are 13 positive cases of coronavirus In Rajouri.

With Covid-19 cases in the Valley rising to 1,500, the district administration is not taking the issue lightly.

Earlier this month, Jammu and Kashmir administration had declared entire Kashmir valley and three districts of Jammu as "red zones" based on overall assessment of the situation and expected return of stranded migrants to the union territory.