Jammu and Kashmir’s COVID-19 count on Sunday crossed 4,000 mark with the highest ever single-day spike of 620 new positive cases on Sunday while the death toll rose to 41.
The number of active cases stood at 4087 with 2830 active positives and 1216 recoveries. The recovery rate has considerably declined in the past week due to the growing number of cases.
While most cases from Kashmir division were contacts of known cases, in Jammu division, most of the new cases were among those returning from outside. The new cases include 60 pregnant women, 24 health workers, three prisoners and several security forces personnel.
The previous highest spike in fresh cases – 285 – was recorded on June 4. While the first case was reported on March 9, the first 1000 patients took 77 days to accumulate till May 15. In the next 16 days till May 31, the total number of positive cases in J&K rose to 2446. In the first week of June, 1641 new cases have been reported.
According to the daily Media Bulletin of the 620 new cases, 583 were reported in Kashmir while 37 were reported from Jammu division. Fresh cases were reported from all the 10 districts of Kashmir valley, taking the total tally in the division to 3198.
The highest jump was in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district that registered 161 new cases, while northern Baramulla district reported 132 new cases. It is for the first time since the outbreak of deadly virus in March that any district in the Union Territory reported more than 100 cases in a single day.
In the Jammu division, the fresh cases were recorded in seven out of ten districts, taking the division’s tally to 889. So far, 1216 cases have recovered with 1016 of those are from Kashmir and 200 from the Jammu division.
Earlier in the day, a COVID-19 positive from Kolkata, and a tailor by profession died at a Srinagar hospital taking the total toll in J&K to 41. Medical Superintendent of SMHS hospital, Dr Nazir Choudhary said the administration is arranging the burial for him in a nearby locality.
Jammu and Kashmir is among the highest COVID-19 case density areas in the country which is over 326 cases per million of the population. According to the 2011 census, J&K’s population is 12.5 million.
The national average per million population so far is 184. With poor health infrastructure and climatic conditions Valley also becomes one of the most high-risk zones for the coronavirus pandemic.
