The 400-odd people of impoverished Dangerpora hamlet have had little respite since a 54-year-old resident died of Covid-19 on April 7.

The hamlet in Bandipora district has since emerged as one of the worst coronavirus-hit pockets in the country, reporting 29 positive cases and having all its residents put into hospital, administrative or home quarantine.

Dangerpora is part of the larger Gund Jagangir village, home to 3,600 people. Officials said five others had tested coronavirus-positive in Gund Jahangir.

About one in every 14 people — or 7 per cent — is positive in Dangerpora. “In terms of density, Dangerpora could be one of the worst-hit localities across the country,” Syed Shahnawaz Bukhari, officer on special duty in Bandipora, told The Telegraph.

Bukhari said Gund Jahangir was under the severest lockdown imposed anywhere in the Valley.

“People are in shock; they don’t come out on their own. We have around 200 people from Gund Jahangir in hospital and administrative quarantine, around 150 of whom are from Danderpora,” he said.

“The rest of the residents of Dangerpora are strictly under home quarantine.”

Gund Jahangir resident Noor Mohammad, a government employee, said that since the death on April 7, there had not been a day till Saturday when someone did not test positive.

“Barricades have been erected around our village to prevent people moving in or out. We are praying for our nightmare to end,” he said.

The dead patient’s test results had come after he had passed away at Srinagar’s SMHS hospital.

“How he had caught the infection is still a mystery. What we know is that he was diabetic and had a history of lung and heart ailments,” Bukhari said. He outlined the scope of the patient’s possible contacts: “He had gone to Sopore for a routine check-up a few days before his death. His relatives and neighbours visited him at home.”

He was later taken to Srinagar’s Chest Disease Hospital but his family still had no clue that he may have caught the coronavirus infection.

The doctors at the CD Hospital referred him to the SMHS Hospital. “The people with confirmed infections in the village are his relatives and neighbours,” Bukhari said.

Dr Ajaz Kanth, block medical officer for Hajin, of which Dangerpora is a part, sounded relieved on Saturday evening when no one tested positive through the day.

“Otherwise, we have 64 patients in Hajin (the highest for any block in Jammu and Kashmir). We have gone in for aggressive testing; some 550 tests have already been conducted here,” Kanth said.

Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal said 13 people had tested positive in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, all from the Valley. The counts of positive cases stand at 287 in the Valley and 54 in Jammu.