Rajouri Deaths:  A medical alert was issued after 17 residents of Badhaal village in the Rajouri region of Jammu and Kashmir died of a mysterious ailment, prompting authorities to cancel all medical and paramedic leaves. There are currently 230 persons under quarantine.

The initial investigation by the toxicology laboratory in Lucknow determined that the cause was a toxin rather than an illness, virus, or bacterium, according to Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh.

At a press conference in Rajouri on Friday, Dr Amarjeet Singh Bhatia, the principal of the Rajouri Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital, declared that all medical and paramedic staff leaves had been cancelled.

“The winter vacations have also been cancelled to deal with the medical alert situation after 17 people from three families died under mysterious conditions in the last one-and-a-half months," he said.

He added that in light of the current health crisis, the government of Jammu and Kashmir has sent ten more medical students to GMC Rajouri to support the medical facility.

According to officials, the health status of three patients receiving care at PGI Chandigarh and GMC Hospital in Jammu is being tracked.

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Three sisters were among the four individuals who were taken to hospitals; on Wednesday, three of them were airlifted to a hospital in Jammu.

As a precaution, more people were placed under quarantine on Friday, including family members who had interacted with the victims' families. More people, including close family members of the deceased, have been moved to the Nursing College quarantine centre in Rajouri as a precaution, bringing the total to 230, according to the officials.

The Nursing College quarantine centre in Rajouri has been extensively guarded and gated, and strict security has been implemented there, they stated.

According to them, a number of individuals who interacted with the impacted families—from transporting children to the hospital to burying them—have also been identified.