With two more deaths, Jammu & Kashmir COVID-19 toll reaches 26

Two more COVID-19 deaths were reported from Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, taking the toll of deaths due to the deadly virus to 26 in the Union Territory.

A quinquagenarian man from Srinagar, who was tested positive for COVID-19 a few days back, died due to cardiac arrest at a hospital on Wednesday.

Dr Salim Khan, nodal officer for COVID-19 at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar said that a 55-year-old man from Fateh Kadal area of old city Srinagar was shifted to Chest Diseases hospital from SMHS hospital on May 1.

On Wednesday at 4 pm, the patient developed sudden cardiac arrest and was immediately intubated, coupled to a ventilator and resuscitated, he said, adding that the patient developed another cardiac arrest and died instantly.

Another victim includes a 70-year-old man from south Kashmir’s Anantnag who died on Tuesday and his report came out COVID-19 positive on Wednesday.

Principal GMC Anantnag, Dr Showkat Gelaani, said that the septuagenarian man with underlying ailments like pneumonia was admitted to the hospital on May 25. “He died yesterday (Tuesday) and his sample was taken while in hospital which came out to be positive today,” he said and added the body was kept at mortuary and would be handed over to his family as per the COVID-19 protocol.

With these two deaths, the toll of COVID-19 positive patients in J&K has reached 26 including 23 from Kashmir division and three from Jammu. In the past 11 days, the death toll due to COVID-19 has more than doubled in J&K. While the toll stood at 12 on May 16, it reached 26 on May 27.

Most of the patients whose deaths have been attributed to the viral infection have been suffering from some co-morbid condition. However, the virus has also killed some ‘otherwise healthy’ individuals.

Till Monday evening J&K had reported 1769 COVID-19 positive cases out of which 833 have recovered and 912 are active positives. South Kashmir’s Kulgam district has the highest number of active positive cases – 207, followed by neighboring Anantnag district with 161 cases. Capital city Srinagar has 57 active cases while Jammu city has 73 active cases.