The cold, sparsely populated desert region has recorded 14 cases so far. Eight of them have been cured and discharged. There has been no death in the region.

By Health Analytics Asia

Flanked by the high Himalayas, Ladakh is one of the most isolated and remote lands along India’s northern tip bordering China.

Due to heavy snow in the high elevations, the region remains inaccessible by road for six months of the year and temperatures can fall to minus 40 degree Celsius. The landlocked mountainous region of 59,146 square kilometre with population of is 2.74 lakhs was considered a pretty safe place to ride out a pandemic. But this didn’t happen.

Senior health ministry official Dr Rigzin Samphel said the region witnessed its first Covid-19 positive patient on Feb 28. A 68-year-old-man from Chuchot village, around 20 km from Leh, capital city of Ladakh at the altitude of 11000 ft .

The man had returned from Iran on February 26 and developed some of the symptoms of COVID-19. He had started coughing and had developed high fever. He was admitted at Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital (SNM), Leh, where his samples were taken for CoVID-19. He was declared the first CoVID-19 positive case of the region.

After that SNM hospital started receiving people with CoVID-19 symptoms who had mostly returned from a pilgrimage from Iran. Several thousand Shiite pilgrims of the region were allowed to visit Iran – which has recorded the 10th highest number of cases – and return without being assessed. A week after, the elderly man’s 28-year-old son presented a high fever and was admitted in the same hospital. He too tested positive for the virus.

As his son had no travel history, doctors say he could have contracted the virus from his father.

With two cases emerging from Chuchot, the authorities declared the village a red zone and sealed it to prevent public movement. Eight members of the family including three children were hospital quarantined at the Ladakh Heart Foundation. Since then 14 patients have tested positive and eight of them have been cured and discharged. There has been no death in the region. “At present we have four cases of CoVID-19 including one in Leh and three in Kargil,” Samphel said.

As there have been no fresh CoVID-19 positive cases, officials attribute it to the complete lockdown and isolation of suspected symptomatic patients. However, the region is not lowering its guard on creating health infrastructure and has sought 100 ventilators from the government of India to meet any exigency.

“Of course the Covid-19 cases are on decline,” Samphel says. “Lockdown is working for us and it seems that we have contained the contagion to some extent. We are not expecting any fresh case now but the apprehension is that once the road will open we may have infiltration of cases because Ladakh is a tourist destination,” he says.

“Small population with decent healthcare are able to take care of epidemic. They have primary health care model and such models are far better in taking care of epidemics,” says a Srinagar based epidemiologist.