8 DEATHS, 346 FRESH INFECTIONS PUSH UT’S PATIENT TALLY TO 11,173

SRINAGAR:Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday recorded eight Covid-19 deaths, while 346 persons tested positive for the disease, taking the total number of cases in the region to 11,173, officials said. Of the new cases, 290 are from Kashmir and 56 from Jammu division. Among these, 46 patients have a travel history.

As many as 39 prisoners tested positive at district jail in south Kashmir’s Anantnag Among the eight persons who succumbed to the disease, seven were from Kashmir while one who died in Jammu was a 47-year-old agriculture officer. Following his death, Directorate of Agriculture, Directorate of Animal Husbandry and other offices situated in Jammu’s Talab Tillo area were sealed.

With this, the death toll in the UT has risen to 195 —177 fatalities in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu division till date.

Active cases in the UT stand at 4,755 after 128 more patients recovered on Tuesday.

A government spokesperson said 28 people were discharged in Jammu division and 100 in Kashmir.

VALLEY OPENS FOR TOURISM, RESIDENTS CRITICISE MOVE

While Kashmir is set to welcome tourists after the administration opened the sector on Tuesday, Valley residents have ridiculed the decision which has come when the region is witnessing an unabated spike in Covid-19 cases and re-imposition of lockdown restrictions.

“It may take at-least two weeks to one month for the tourists to start bookings,” said Kashmir tourism director Nisar Ahmad Wani.

These decisions have been sharply castigated by people even associated with tourism.

Ashfaq Siddiq Dug, head of Travel Agents Association of Kashmir, said it was an ill-timed move and an insult to the sensibilities of the locals.