On Wednesday, Kashmir saw the highest surge so far in the Covid-19 cases. At least six samples taken from Government Medical College (GMC), Baramulla, tested positive.

Of the six persons tested positive, five were Srinagar residents and had returned from Nigeria. They were under quarantine at Gulmarg in Baramulla.

After the first positive case was reported in the Valley, two hotspots emerged in Baramulla, which has a population of over 10 lakh.

“One hotspot is Tangmarg and the other is the border town of Uri,” said a government official.

The medical facilities at the biggest health institute in the district are, however, not sufficient to handle a crisis situation. The newly established medical college has only one ventilator and two transport ventilators.

So far, one patient from Baramulla district has died of Covid-19 and 30 residents have tested positive. A majority of the cases in Baramulla have been reported from the border town of Uri, Tangmarg and Sopore.

On Thursday, anxiety gripped people after eight persons from Solinda village in Tangmarg — the native area of the second Covid-19 casualty in Kashmir — tested positive.

Days after the Tangmarg man’s death on March 29, his four relatives, including his son, were tested positive and are under treatment at Government Medical College, Baramulla, which is the only isolation and treatment centre in north Kashmir.

After Srinagar, the GMC in Baramulla has the maximum number of Covid-19 patients in the Valley.

“At present, 30 patients are admitted to the hospital,” said hospital Medical Superintendent Syed Masood. “Apart from patients from Baramulla, we are also treating patients from Kupwara and Bandipora,” he said.

No patient has been discharged from the hospital so far.

As many as 13 persons from two villages in Tangmarg and eight members of two families from Uri have been tested coronavirus positive. The authorities have declared 16 villages as red zone in Tangmarg and Uri.

“People are hiding their travel history and this is troubling us,” said a doctor at the GMC, Baramulla, which has 53 isolation beds.

The hospital recently installed South Korean model kiosks to collect swabs from suspected Covid-19 patients. The swabs are collected from the suspected patients in the open air rather than inside the isolation centre of the hospital.

Over 300 tests have been sent by the GMC, Baramulla, and the report of 34 is yet to come. The authorities have put more than 2,000 travellers in quarantine in Baramulla and many of them have completed the 14-day quarantine.