615 new Covid-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir; state tally at 17,920

As many as 615 Covid-19 positive cases were reported from Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, taking the cumulative number in the Union Territory (UT) to 17,920.

For the past three days, J&K has been recording a drop in Covid-19 cases. While on July 20, the number of cases stood at 751, barring July 22, the daily cases have been over 600 on most days. On Friday, 353 Covid-19 cases were reported, while today, although higher than Friday’s number of cases, was a drop from the cases recorded in the previous week.

Of the new positive cases on Sunday, 775 are from Kashmir and 136 from the Jammu division. Among these, 145 patients have a travel history.

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Officials said seven more people succumbed to the virus on Sunday taking the total toll in the Union Territory to 312. While 289 deaths have been reported from Kashmir valley, 23 who died due to the Covid-19 were from Jammu region.

The UT, particularly Kashmir valley, is witnessing an increase in death toll and daily-new-cases in July. 211 persons have died in the first 26 days of July alone.

Active cases in the UT stand at 7,680 with 5939 from Kashmir and 1,741 from Jammu. The number of people who have recovered since the first case was reported on March 9 has reached 9,928, taking the recovery rate to 55.40%. From 63% on July 1, the recovery rate has consistently gone down as the new cases have been showing more increase than the number of recovered.

In Kashmir, the highest jump in cases was witnessed in Srinagar district where 209 more people tested positive followed by Budgam at 88 and Bandipora at 41. In Jammu division, the highest number of 90 cases each was reported in Jammu district with37 cases followed by Rajouri with 33.

A health official said that the quantum of testing had increased in J&K in the previous week due to the high influx of labourers coming in. “We have had over 20000 laborers arriving in the week gone by. They have been tested and that increased the number of tests we carried out,” he said.

The official added that 15,000 more laborers were expected to arrive and they too would be tested, although among other groups, the number of samples taken and tested would remain the same.