A day after death, Srinagar lady tests positive for COVID-19

An 80-year-old lady from Srinagar tested positive for COVID-19, a day after her death at SMHS hospital, taking the toll of viral illness in Jammu and Kashmir to 20.

Dr. Salim Khan, nodal officer for COVID-19 at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar said the lady from the Bemina area of Srinagar, who died at SMHS on Wednesday (May 20), tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday (May 21).

He said that she was admitted with bilateral pneumonia and hypertension on May 19 and was kept in an isolation ward where she died on Thursday. “Her body was kept in the GMC mortuary and her reports came COVID-19 positive today,” Dr. Khan added.

The mortality attributed to coronavirus has increased in the past week in Kashmir where eight positive people have died since May 17. Although doctors said all these patients suffered from other life-threatening illnesses, the deaths have steepened the mortality graph of the viral illness.

Till Wednesday evening J&K had reported 1,390 COVID-19 positive cases out of which 678 have recovered and 694 are Active Positives. While J&K crossed one lakh tests conducted on Wednesday, the majority of new cases were people returning to J&K from other states.