J-K: 'Mysterious' death count reaches 17 in Rajouri, authorities scan over 10,000 houses in district

Rajouri mysterious illness has claimed 17 deaths and affected 38 lives. However, health department officials have assured that there is nothing to panic.

Authorities are alarmed in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district as an unidentified disease has claimed 17 lives. Centre has also taken cognisance of the situation and a special inter-ministerial team has been formed to probe the 'mysterious' disease. Authorities have screened 9000-10,000 houses to gather data. The Indian Army has been deployed to the area to provide essential supplies, including food, water, and shelter, to the residents.

NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control), ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) teams are deployed for investigation. 

CMO Rajouri shared updates on surveillance 

Dr M L Raina, CMO Rajouri, said, "We have repeatedly screened the 1600-1700 houses. We have screened out 9000-10000 houses from door to door. I have on-record data, day-wise data and date-wise data. We have day-wise data and date-wise data. On the very next day of the 'unidentified' disease outbreak, we deployed our teams. In which we doing active surveillance and passive surveillance. There are our medical mobile units. There is a team of doctors from the National Health Organization. Along with that, we have a lab system too." 

Dr M L Raina provided updates on the ongoing surveillance and public health efforts in the district. He stated that teams have been set up for all clusters and that surveillance has been conducted both actively and passively over the last two months.

"We have set up teams for the entire district and workers at the field level. We have 8 different teams for 8 clusters. So, for the last two months, we have been working on active and passive surveillance and base camps," he said.

'Not a public health emergency'

Dr M L Raina further mentioned that as per the test reports, there is no need to declare a 'public health emergency.

'"We have checked the system so that there are no problems. You can see that everything has been cleared from our side. The viral test results are still positive. None of them have come. All are negative. Even if we go to the vectorology side, it is negative. If we go to the viral side, it is negative. There is no public health emergency," he said.

(With ANI inputs)