Grim new milestones for J&K: 47 deaths, 3, 832 fresh cases
The number of active cases, which has been rising exponentially, reached 30,343; 157 travellers among new cases
SRINAGAR : Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday witnessed the highest number deaths on a single day since the pandemic outbreak in March last year after 47 patients succumbed to Covid-19, taking the death toll to 2,330.
The UT also reported 3,832 fresh infections, the highest daily hike so far, taking overall cases to 1, 79,915.
Of the new cases, 2,601 pertained to Kashmir, while 1,231 were from Jammu, including 157 travellers.
Out of the 47 deaths, 30 were reported in Jammu division and 17 in Kashmir. Earlier, the UT had been witnessing 25 to 30 fatalities daily for the past five days.
Officials said with 1,084 cases, Srinagar had the highest number of new infections, followed by 504 in Jammu district, 309 in Baramulla, 291 in Budgam, 286 in Anantnag and 121 in Kulgam.
The number of active cases, which has been rising exponentially, reached 30,343, officials said. Most of these cases have been added after February 9 when the UT had the lowest active case tally of 593.
As many as 1,801 more patients recuperated on Saturday, including 1,112 from Kashmir and 689 from Jammu.
So far, 1,47,242 people have been cured in the UT, taking the recovery rate to 81.83% against 98% in the first fortnight of February. Over 7.31 million tests have been conducted in the
UT so far.
Srinagar and Jammu districts have together contributed for about 80,000 cases and 1042 deaths of the total.
Lockdown extended till May 6 in 4 districts Meanwhile, the UT administration on Saturday extended the lockdown till Thursday in four districts — Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam and Jammu.
“The corona curfew ending at 7am on Monday (May 3) stands extended till 7am on Thursday, 6 May 2021 in the 4 districts of Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam and Jammu,” the directorate of information and public relations said in a tweet.
“The Corona curfew at night shall continue in all municipal/ urban local body limits of all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir, including the above four districts. Night curfew will be in force from 8pm to 7am. Other restrictions when curfew is not there will continue as before,” it said.
However, essential services have been exempted from its purview.
These include local retail grocery shops catering to residential areas and mohallas. Religious and social gathering such as marriages, can be attended by up to 50 persons only, whether indoors or outdoors and funerals/last rites will have a 20-person cap.
However, in case of marriages and other pre-planned events, organisers shall have to inform the tehsildars concerned at least 48 hours in advance and ensure Covid appropriate behaviour. Invitation cards will be treated as movement passes.
April sees steepest spike More than 45,123 Covid cases were reported from Jammu and Kashmir in April, the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year. The month also saw 289 deaths in both regions of the UT.
In March, J&K had recorded 4,519 infections and 37 deaths. April saw an almost eight-fold increase in cases and 7.8 times more deaths, compared to last month. This has forced officials to devise a new strategy to curb the spread of the disease.
The number of active cases also rose exponentially and reached 28,359 by April 30, officials said. Most of these were added after February 9, when the UT had the lowest active case tally of 593.
As many as 1,45,441 people have recovered so far, taking the recovery rate to 83.54 %. In the first fortnight of February, the recovery rate was 98%.
From an all- time low of 43 cases on February 8, the surge became pronounced by midmarch. The spike got steeper in April, with over 1,200 to 2,000 fresh infections being reported daily since mid-april. On April 30, 3,532 cases were recorded, which the highest single-day spike.