Jammu Tawi, April 13: According to official statistics, Jammu has seen a seven-fold rise in active coronavirus cases in less than a month, though Srinagar has the highest number of 2,833 patients in the whole union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Some districts in Jammu and Kashmir that had previously been declared “coronavirus-free” are now registering new cases as the country is hit by a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
On March 19, Srinagar district had 564 active cases, which increased to 2,833 on Monday, while Jammu saw a seven-fold increase from 211 to 1,582 cases during the same time.
Jammu and Kashmir had a total of 1,39,381 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, with 83,679 in Kashmir and 55,702 in the Jammu division. The virus has claimed the lives of at least 2,034 people, including 1,282 in Kashmir and 752 in Jammu division.
On Monday, there were 7,908 active cases in the union territory, with a total of 1,29,439 patients recovering from the infection.
Jammu Chief Medical Officer JP Singh said that the current COVID-19 situation in the district is of great concern and that the health department is making the best use of its resources to combat the pandemic.
“If we compare the present phase with last year, it is of great concern. We had a very few cases in March-April last year but this time we have witnessed a jump of five times in the number of cases between February and April,” Mr Singh told Press Trust of India.
He said complacent behaviour among people is leading to the surge in cases, and added that the health department is better prepared this time and are taking further necessary steps to augment the infrastructure to deal with the situation.
Ramban district has the lowest 17 active cases, officials said.
Baramulla with 805 active cases is positioned third in the chart, followed by Reasi (386 cases), Udhampur (384), Budgam (376), Kulgam (225), Kupwara (212), Anantnag (211), Pulwama (193), Kathua (161), Bandipora (115), Samba (82), Ganderbal (80), Shopian (70), Rajouri (61), Doda (45), Poonch (39), Kishtwar (31) and Ramban (17), the officials said.
Several districts, including Doda, Kishtwar and Samba, were declared “coronavirus free” early this year after recovery of all infected people.
The spike in the infection forced the administration to announce closure of educational institutions from April 5 to April 18, besides imposition of night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am in the urban areas of eight districts, including Jammu and Srinagar, since April 9.
The other districts where curfew has been imposed are Udhampur, Kathua, Baramulla, Budgam, Anantnag and Kupwara, while Reasi district has been put under close observation for any spike in cases.
Srinagar also tops the COVID-19 fatality chart with 480 deaths, followed by Jammu (391), Baramulla (183), Budgam (123), Kupwara and Anantnag (98 each), Pulwama (92), Doda (64), Bandipora (63), Udhampur (58), Kulgam and Rajouri (56 each), Kathua (53), Ganderbal (49), Samba (43), Shopian (40), Poonch (26), Ramban (23), Kishtwar (22) and Reasi (16), the officials said.
