33 new coronavirus positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir, tally rises to 158

The number of COVID-19 positive cases continues to show surge in Jammu and Kashmir as 33 new cases detected on Wednesday, highest ever since the pandemic gripped the Union Territory on March 18.

With this the total number of positive cases have gone up to 158 out of which three have died while six patients have recovered.

“Just Now 19 more cases test positive Kashmir Division- details follow (sic),” J&K government spokesperson, Rohit Kansal, tweeted without elaborating further.

Earlier in another tweet, he said: “#COVID19 #JammuAndKashmir Status Update 14 new cases today; 11 in Kashmir, 3 in Jammu 139 cases in all now; 130 active cases; 27 in Jammu Division, 103 in Kashmir. Good News too: 2 patients discharged from SKIMS,”

The patients, who tested positive in Kashmir, are residents of Srinagar, Baramulla and Bandipora districts. The four patients tested positive from Bandipora had a history of contact with previous patients and are aged 16, 38, 30 and 36 years, reports said.

Five patients from Srinagar with travel history to Nigeria are aged 33, 35, 31, 41 and 46 years, reports said. One patient is from Tangmarg area of Baramulla and he is said to be around 70 years old with contact with a previous COVID-19 positive patient.

The other patient is said to be a 16-year-old from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district,who had returned from Markaz Nizamudin in New Delhi. The details of other patients were not available immediately.

Health officials said the total number of cases was likely to rise as details regarding test results of samples collected in other labs, including Jammu, were awaited.

Prof Parvaiz Koul, head department of internal and pulmonary medicine at super-specialty SKIMS hospital in Srinagar, termed the rise in cases “worrisome”. He said the cases were suggestive of “limited community transmission”. “If such cases increase, we may have moved from local transmission to community transmission,” he said.

Meanwhile, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo, has emphasized the need to ramp up testing of suspected COVID patients besides augmenting the capacity and facilities of the laboratories.

He directed the officers for upgrading the facilities in the designated COVID-19 hospitals across Jammu and Kashmir so that they can provide Level-3 treatment to the coronavirus patients.

The Commissioner said that increasing the sample testing should be the focus of the authorities in order to have a clear picture about the disease for tackling it in a better way. He said that all high risk contacts of the positive cases should be tracked, quarantined and lab tested as per the protocol

“We need to be meticulous about the services that are being provided at the designated COVID-19 hospitals and have to increase our strength in terms of enhanced facilities and manpower,” Dulloo said.