71 die, 3,967 test positive for Covid in J&K

Officials said with 666 cases, Srinagar had the highest number of new infections, followed by 522 in Jammu district, 454 in Budgam, 272 in Udhampur and 196 in Baramulla

As many 71 people lost their lives to Covid-19 on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir taking May’s fatalities to 1,011 and overall death toll to 3,293.

Government employees deployed for Covid duties check oxygen saturation level of a girl as her brother, left, receives free medicine at their home in Budgam on Tuesday. (AP)

The UT also recorded 3,967 fresh infections in the past 24 hours, pushing the overall cases to 2, 51,919.

Officials said with 666 cases, Srinagar had the highest number of new infections, followed by 522 in Jammu district, 454 in Budgam, 272 in Udhampur and 196 in Baramulla.

The number of active cases has reached 50,925, officials said.

Officials said nearly 3,823 patients have recovered, including 2,463 from Kashmir and 1,360 from Jammu. As many as 1,97,701 people have recovered so far, taking the recovery rate to 78.47%

Kashmir divisional commissioner Pandurang K Pole, meanwhile, said the rate of Covid cases has plunged by 10-12% during the past few days in Valley.

He said that still there are chances that the mortality rate will remain the same or increase in the next few days. “The demand for oxygen beds has also eased out as more beds have been added at all dedicated hospitals,” he added.

He said that Kashmir is in a comfortable position with five oxygen manufacturing plants while 20 more oxygen generation units have been installed at different hospitals in Kashmir.

“The J & K government has placed an order of 1.2 crore vaccine doses. However, there can be difficulty as other states have also placed orders,” he said.

“Despite that, vaccination of 45+ age group is going on in full swing and the rate in J&K is 61% against the 33% national rate,” he said.