15-day-old baby among four Covid-19 deaths in J&K; 125 fresh infections

The number of active cases stands at 2,411 after 50 more patients recovered on Friday.

A 15-day-old child was the youngest to die among the four patients who succumbed to Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, taking the total fatalities to 75.

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With the 125 fresh infections reported in J&K, the total number of people affected by the disease is 5,680.

Officials said all the four deaths were reported from Kashmir division, which included the 15-day-old baby from Srinagar’s Bemina, two elderly men from Srinagar and Baramulla districts and a middle-aged woman from Shopian.

The baby, who had serious heart ailment, died at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, two days after testing positive for Covid-19, a doctor said.

An 80-year-old patient from Sopore also died at the hospital on Friday, while a 79-year-old man from Srinagar lost his life to the infection on Thursday evening. A woman in her fifties from Shopian district had died at the Chest Diseases Hospital in Srinagar on Thursday evening.

Dr Nisar ul Hassan, a senior doctor representing a faction of the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK), said over 17% of Covid-19 cases in Kashmir pertained to children and young adults.

“While children make up for fewer than 2 percent of the reported Covid-19 cases globally, in Kashmir, 17.29% of cases are in the age group of 0-19 years,” he said in a statement issued to a local news agency.

However, he stated that most children with the infection had mild or no symptoms. He said no such child became seriously ill.

Dr Nisar said based on their analysis of the data, of 989 lab-confirmed cases, 171 (17.29%) were below 19 years of age. “Majority of the children who tested positive for the disease had a history of contact with infected adults,” he said.

He said the death of the baby was the valley’s first infant death and the baby had underlying severe heart ailment.

Of the total 75 fatalities in J&K, 66 have died in Kashmir division and nine in Jammu division.

On Friday, J&K recorded 125 fresh Covid-19 cases. Of these, 23 are from Jammu and 102 from Kashmir division, with 25 among them having travel history.

The number of active cases stands at 2,411 after 50 more patients recovered on Friday. The administration informed that 25 people were discharged from Rajouri district in Jammu division and an equal number from Kashmir.

So far, 3,194 people have been cured in the UT, taking the recovery rate to 56.23%.

The highest case jump in Kashmir was witnessed in Srinagar where 31 more people tested positive for the disease. Pulwama, Kulgam and Baramulla recorded 18, 11 and 10 cases respectively. The other districts saw single-digit increase. In Jammu division, five districts reported new infections — all in single digits.

Till date, 2.49 lakh people in contact with suspected cases have been put under surveillance — 39,182 in home quarantine, 31 in hospital quarantine and 45,832 under home surveillance. Besides these, 1.61 lakh people have completed their 28-day surveillance period.

On Thursday, J&K had recorded 149 fresh Covid-19 infections while four people had succumbed to the disease.