- By Nidhi Giri
- Tue, 21 Jan 2025 05:21 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday gave an update into the mysterious deaths over the past six weeks in Budhal village of Rajouri district. CM Abdullah informed that the deaths were not caused by a bacteria or a virus as per tests and so had no links to any disease. He added that a central team, which is currently in Jammu and Kashmir, is assisting the local administration and carrying out an investigation into the incident.
"The day when we got the information, the health department along with other departments have been working to understand the causes behind such incidents... Tests were done, and we reached the conclusion that there were no bacteria or viruses - that caused those deaths. Later, we found that all those deaths happened in three families. But, we are yet to find the reason behind 17 deaths... Since it's not a disease, police are also involved in it and they have formed a team to investigate the matter. Central govt team is also there - and we together will look into the incidents to find the reason behind all these deaths..." Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, the health department in Rajouri is working on a war footing with health officials launching extensive screening of residents. The disease that remains unidentified has claimed 17 lives and affected 38 people since early December 2024. However, health department teams say there is no need to declare a public health emergency.
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."
The first incident was reported on December 7, 2024, when a family of seven fell ill after a community meal, resulting in five fatalities. Similar incidents occurred on December 12 and January 12, with nine and ten people affected, respectively. Among them, 10-year-old Zabeena Kouser passed away this week, while her sister remains critical.