For second day in row, J&K sees 500+ Covid cases

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 501 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the Union Territory’s case tally to 1, 32, 439, health officials said on Saturday

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 501 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the Union Territory’s case tally to 1, 32, 439, health officials said on Saturday. With two fresh fatalities in Jammu division, the UT’s death toll reached 2,005.

Jammu police take a person for random COVID-19 testing after he was found roaming around without a mask on Saturday. (PTI)

For the last two days, Jammu and Kashmir has been seeing over 500 daily cases, the highest daily count in almost four months.

Of the new cases, 393 are from Kashmir division while 108 are from Jammu. Officials said with 207 cases, Srinagar had the highest number of new infections, followed by 89 in Baramulla district, 69 in Jammu, 35 in Budgam and 14 in Kathua. Eleven districts reported single digit cases while Kishtwar district in Jammu saw no infections.

The number of active cases, which has been rising steadily since March, reached 3, 574, officials said. There are 2,734 active cases in Kashmir division, including 1,407 in Srinagar. Of the 840 active cases in Jammu division, 589 are in Jammu district.

On Saturday, 140 patients were discharged from various hospitals, including 109 from Kashmir and 31 from Jammu. As many as 1, 26,860 people have recovered so far, taking the recovery rate to 95.78%. Over 6.16 million Covid-19 tests have been conducted in the Union territory so far.

In March, the UT had recorded 4,519 Covid-19 infections, an increase of 133% from February, and 37 deaths. In February, there were 1,935 cases and 21 deaths. “Of the total 1, 32, 439 cases that J&K has seen so far, 13,615 were travelers,” said a government spokesman.