Srinagar, Apr 14 (IANS): As many as 12 persons were arrested for having a picnic in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district in violation of lockdown restrictions due to coronavirus scare, police said on Tuesday.

Police said the 12 persons had assembled in Tragbal area on Monday for the picnic.

"A police party reached the spot after getting information and arrested them for having a picnic in utter disregard to their own safety and that of others," a senior police officer told IANS.

The FIR was lodged at Lar police station under the relevant provisions of law, the officer said.

Meanwhile, an unspecified number of youths were also arrested in the same district for playing cricket in a playfield in Kangan area.

Two positive cases have so far been reported in Ganderbal district. The couple testing positive belongs to Guzhama village and are presently in isolation at the district hospital.

The village has been declared as the red zone while three adjacent villages have been classified as the buffer zone.

Twenty persons believed to have come into contact with the couple have been put under quarantine and their samples sent for testing.