J&K sees 3% rise in recovery rate in 10 days

The region also recorded 4,169 fresh infections, pushing J&K’s case count to 2,60,057; The month of May has clocked the highest monthly infections and fatalities at 83,974 and 1,140, respectively, while 60,640 people recovered from the virus.

Sixty-seven people lost their lives to the novel coronavirus on Thursday, taking the Union territory’s death toll to 3,422 , of which 1,140 people have lost their lives this month .

A health worker collecting a woman’s nasal swab outside her home in Budgam on Thursday. (Waseem Andrabi/HT)

The region also recorded 4,169 fresh infections, pushing J&K’s case count to 2,60,057. As many as 4,042 people recuperated — 2,509 from Kashmir and 1,533 from Jammu — taking the total recoveries to 2,06,081. The recovery rate has improved from 76% on May 9 to 79.2%.

Of the 67 deaths in the UT, 41 were reported in Jammu division and 26 in Kashmir. Of the new cases, 2,651 are from Kashmir, 1,518 are from Jammu, and 30 are travellers. Dr Ishrat Hussain Dar, professor of medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar, said the second coronavirus wave is highly infectious.“It is mostly targeting the younger people and leaving trail of deaths. People should protect themselves and their families by wearing triple surgical or cotton masks and avoid filter masks,” he said.

The month of May has clocked the highest monthly infections and fatalities at 83,974 and 1,140, respectively, while 60,640 people recovered from the virus.

Officials said with 674 cases, Srinagar had the highest number of new infections, followed by 499 in Jammu district, 393 in Budgam, 333 in Baramulla, 255 in Anantnag and 215 in Bandipora. The number of active cases has reached 50,554, officials said.

Asking people to get vaccinated, Dr Kailash Singh, assistant professor of surgery, Government Medical College, Jammu, said, “Studies have shown that 93% of the Covid fatalities were seen among people who were not vaccinated while the remaining had only received a single shot,” he said.

Srinagar and Jammu have together contributed around 1.06 lakh cases and 1,619 deaths. With 904 fatalities, Jammu has taken over Srinagar, which has logged 715 deaths.

GMC Kathua self-sufficient in O2 needs

JAMMU The establishment of a 2,250 LPM ( litres per minute) oxygen generation plant has helped Government Medical College, Kathua, become self sufficient in its medical oxygen needs. The hospital has also stocked 346 D-Type and 120 B-type oxygen cylinders as a buffer to meet any exigency. GMC Kathua principal Dr Anjali Nadir said 50 oxygen concentrators had also been received, which are being utilised for patient care in Covid isolation wards.

An additional 750 LPM capacity oxygen generation plant and a 1,000 LPM capacity plant have been sanctioned for GMC Kathua , which will scale up the capacity to 4,000 LPM and also help increasing the number of oxygen supported beds.