The Union Territory of Ladakh has set an example of effective social distancing as the region has reported no positive coronavirus case in the past 11 days after the initial spike in the number of affected people.

Official sources said 13 persons had tested positive in the Ladakh region — 11 in Leh district and two in Kargil district.

On March 21, three positive cases were reported in the region, but since then there has been no new case in Ladakh.

“This has been attributed to better and effective social distancing being practised by the people in both districts of the region. Besides, the strict restrictions imposed by the administration have also yielded good results so far,” said a senior official in the UT administration.

At present, there are 10 positive cases in Ladakh but all of them are stable. Three have recovered as they tested negative.

On Tuesday, a total of 50 sample reports, including 32 from Kargil district, were received by the health department, Leh, and all results were negative. Even a normal delivery of a woman was also reported from Chuchot Gongma containment zone on Monday.

A total of 31,845 people have been screened at the entry points, including the airport, intra-district and inter-district checkpoints, since January 31.

In Ladakh, 160 persons have returned from Iran while the number of other foreign returnees in the region is 530.

The Ladakh administration has banned the entry of the domestic as well as international tourists to the region till April 30.

“The imposition of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to restrict the gathering of people was the first step. We are now taking utmost care to stop the spread of the contamination (disease). Though there is movement of people from outside to Ladakh, our efforts are on to trace the people who came in contact with the infected persons,” said District Magistrate (DM), Leh, Sachin Kumar Vaishya.