Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday reported the highest-ever daily Covid-19 spike witnessing 6,568 infections, again breaching all records since the pandemic began in 2020. Seven persons died due to the Covid-19 induced illness.
The day’s surge is more than the monthly total cases of the past six months(In the past six months, July had recorded a highest of 5,800 overall cases during the month while October had seen 2,819 infections).
For the past four days, the union territory has recorded above 5,700 cases daily.
Before this week’s surge, the highest novel Coronavirus cases reported in the union territory were 5,443 and 50 deaths on May 7 when the second wave had peaked. The first wave had peaked in September 2020 reporting the highest surge of 1,698 cases and 10 deaths on September 12.
The active cases in the union territory reached 39,113 with over 37,700 active cases added in January so far. On December 31, the union territory had just 1,337 active cases.
The officials said 82,423 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours in the UT taking Saturday’s daily test positivity rate (TPR) to 7.96% – first time since May.
The authorities have increased the testing rate this month as earlier they have been conducting between 42,000 and 56,000 average daily tests every month from May to December.
Of the total infections on Saturday, Kashmir valley saw over 71% of the infections with 4,693 cases and two deaths while 1,875 cases and five deaths were reported in the Jammu division.
In Kashmir valley, the surge was in nine out of the 10 districts with Srinagar witnessing the highest 1,604 cases followed by 749 cases in Baramulla, 643 in Budgam, 418 in Bandipora, 333 in Kulgam, and 320 in Kupwara.
In the Jammu division, the Jammu district reported 1,236 cases followed by 120 in Doda and 99 in Ramban.
Srinagar is the district with the highest number of Covid active cases at 9,922 followed by Jammu and Baramulla districts with 8,340 and 5,712 active cases, respectively.
This month has witnessed a steep rise in cases with daily infections shooting up sharply from 169 on Jan 01 to 6,568 on Jan 22.
The number of patients who were cured in the UT was 2,330 with active positive cases reaching 39,113.
However, of the 4,794 beds dedicated for Covid patients, just over 10.39 percent or 519 are occupied in J&K.
The government’s daily health bulletin also said that 34,423 vaccine doses were administered taking overall doses administered in the UT to cross 2.015 crores.
The overall number of people who have recovered reached 3,47,238 while the recovery rate has dropped to 88.81%. Since the pandemic started, the overall cases in J&K have reached 3,90,949 and the death toll has reached 4,598.
The Jammu district has the highest number of 1,182 fatalities followed by Srinagar with 890 deaths.
