10 FATALITIES , 453 NEW CASES

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday recorded 10 Covid-19 related deaths and a spike of 453 positive cases, taking the total number of people infected with the disease in the region to 15,711, officials said.

Of the new positive cases, 352 are from Kashmir and 101 from Jammu division. Among these, 33 patients have a travel history.

Among the infected were four officials from the Srinagar municipal corporation (SMC), which prompted officials to close the main office for three days.

“Four officials have tested positive, therefore the main office located at Karanagar will remain closed for three days as per the standard SOPS. However the process of decontamination and sanitation as is being done and will be carried out from the office located at Lal Chowk,” said SMC official spokesperson Syed Abu Qasim.

Officials said ten more people have succumbed to the disease – all of them in Kashmir. Among the dead was a 5-year-old boy from Bandipora district.

With this, the death toll in the UT has risen to 273—253 fatalities in Kashmir and 20 in Jammu division till date.

Active cases in the UT stand at 6,831 after 152 more patients recovered on Wednesday. A government spokesperson said 37 people were discharged in Jammu division and 115 in Kashmir. The number of people who have recovered since the first cases emerged on March 9 has reached 8,607, taking the recovery rate to 54.7%. From 63 percent on July 1, the recovery rate has consistently gone down till July 17 as the new cases have been showing more increase than the number of recovered.