J&K saw least Covid deaths in 17 months, maximum vaccination in September

According to the J&K government’s figures, September witnessed only 10 deaths due to Covid – lowest since the pandemic started in March and April last year wherein eight fatalities were reported

In September, Jammu and Kashmir recorded least Covid-related fatalities in the last 17 months.

In terms of monthly cases, 4,011 people were infected with Covid in September, almost equal to August when 3,957 cases were reported in J&K (Image for representational purpose (AP))

According to the government’s figures, the month witnessed only 10 deaths due to coronavirus – lowest since the pandemic started in March and April last year wherein eight deaths were reported. In August, 2021 , J&K had logged 30 deaths.

In terms of monthly cases, 4,011 people were infected in September, almost equal to August when 3,957 cases were reported.

“We are not seeing any major spike. It may be because of two reasons — first, the infectivity rate in the community is already high which the sero-survey has revealed and second, the immunisation rate is also high. Hence, these two factors have made more people immune to the virus,” said Dr Muhammad Salim Khan, head of the community medicine department and Covid in-charge at the Srinagar government medical college.

There has, however, been a slight increase in this month’s test positivity rate (TPR) – the percentage of tests turning positive in a particular time period out of the total tests conducted during the period. If it is below 5%, it indicates that the infection is under control in the community.

The month of September recorded a TPR of 0.270% against 0.239% which, owing to the equal number of cases, can be attributed to lower tests this month.

The data reveals that average 49,374 tests were conducted daily in September as against 53,359 daily tests in August.

Overall, the union territory conducted 14.81 lakh tests in September, witnessing a fall of over 10% in comparison to August when 16.54 lakh tests were done.

In the second Covid wave which started in March 2021, the month of September again has been the least affected one. The UT saw 37 deaths in March, 289 in April, 1,625 in May, 416 in June, 55 in July, 30 in August and just 10 in September.

September, meanwhile, also saw the highest vaccine doses administered in the past six months.

About 33.78 lakh doses were given in September, 18.5 lakh in August, 16.76 lakh in July, 12.36 lakh in June and 9.49 lakh in May.

The UT has administered total 1.14 crore vaccine doses till September 30 of which, over 29% or 33.78 lakh were in the month of September.

Experts say that they don’t expect any major third wave, unless there is the entry of any virulent strain.

“Looking at how the first and second wave behaved, this time we feel it is not that serious and the situation is stable,” Khan said.

“I hope this continues like this. The high infection in the community and high vaccination rate won’t allow it to go out of control unless there is a new virulent strain,” he said.

124 new Covid cases emerge in UT

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 124 fresh coronavirus infections while a person died due to the disease on Saturday.

Of the total, 92 cases were reported in Kashmir valley and the Jammu division saw 32 infections.

The number of patients who were cured in the UT was 168 with active cases reaching 1,294.

Srinagar district has the highest number of active cases at 551 followed by Baramulla and Budgam districts with 157 and 100 such cases, respectively.

Officials said with 52 cases, Srinagar had the highest number of new infections followed by 10 cases in Doda district. As many as 18 districts had no or single-digit cases.

The overall number of people who have recovered reached 3,23,969, prompting the recovery rate to climb up to 98.26%. Since the pandemic started, the overall cases in J&K have reached 3,29,687 and the death toll stands at 4,424.

The officials said that 49,801 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours in the UT.

The Jammu district has the highest number of 1,144 fatalities followed by Srinagar with 840 deaths.

89 test positive in Himachal

Himachal Pradesh logged 89 fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday, taking the state’s case tally to 2,19,333 while the death toll mounted to 3,665 after two patients died of the contagion.

The active cases have come down to 1,559 while recoveries reached 2,14,093 after 222 people recuperated.

Kangra is still the worst-hit district with a total of 49,054 cases reported till date, followed by 30,983 in Mandi and 27,239 in Shimla.