With 701 Covid-19 cases, Jammu and Kashmir records highest single-day jump

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the highest one-day jump in Covid-19 cases on Sunday as 701 persons tested positive, taking the union territory's tally to 13,899.

The number of active cases stood at 5,844 with 7,811 recoveries and 244 deaths. The recovery rate has considerably declined in the past week due to the growing number of cases.

According to the daily Media Bulletin of the 701 new cases, 601 were reported in Kashmir while 100 were reported from the Jammu division. Fresh cases were reported from all the 10 districts of Kashmir valley, taking the total tally in the division to 11,112.

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The previous highest spike in fresh cases – 605 - was recorded on June 7. While the first case was reported on March 9, the first 1,000 patients took 67 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 June 5,051 positive cases were reported while in July, 6,402 people have been affected by the Covid-19 so far.

On Sunday, Srinagar district alone reported 290 cases, followed by Kupwara in north Kashmir with 84 and neighboring Baramulla with 53.

Srinagar with 61 deaths has the highest fatalities followed by Baramulla (51), Kulgam (24), Shopian (25), Anantnag (18), Budgam (18), Kupwara (13), Jammu (11), Pulwama (12), Ganderbal (4), Bandipora (5), Doda (2), Rajouri (2) while one death each has been reported from Poonch, Samba, Udhampur and Kathua districts.

Hospitals in Srinagar are facing the maximum load of patients as many cases are being referred here from other districts of the Valley. The healthcare infrastructure in the Valley is struggling to cope with a surge in new cases.

Jammu and Kashmir is among the highest Covid-19 case density areas in the country which is over 1100 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 800. With poor health infrastructure and climatic conditions, Kashmir also becomes one of the most high-risk zones for the coronavirus outbreak.