Srinagar: Seven more persons tested positive for novel Coronavirus in Kashmir on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 62, officials said.

They said the new Covid-19 cases detected positive include a 25-year-old youth of Nishat area in Srinagar who is in critical condition.

“He is presently unwell and getting oxygen therapy at the isolation ward of SKIMS Soura,” said the hospital’s Medical Superintendent, Dr Farooq A Jan.

“We are yet to know how he contracted the infection because family didn’t tell us anything about that,” he added.

Dr Jan said the health department had been alerted about the patient for contact tracing.

“We have asked the health department to get more details about the person so that we can know how he contracted the infection and if there is any trail of infection,” he said.

According to him, one more sample tested positive at the hospital on Wednesday. The patient, however, is currently admitted at Government Medical College (GMC) Baramulla.

“We are not sure about the patient as we received the sample from GMC Baramulla few days ago,” he said.

Nodal Officer for Coronavirus at GMC Srinagar, Dr Salim Khan told Kashmir Reader that five persons have detected positive for Covid-19 at Chest Diseases Hospital today.

Two of them are presently admitted in District Hospital Pulwama and three are in the JLNM Hospital Rainawari, he said.

Dr Khan said the patients admitted at JLNM Hospital had come in contact with positive patients.

The government spokesperson Rohit Kansal said that the tally of Covid-19 cases reached 62 in Jammu and Kashmir including 50 in Kashmir division and 12 in Jammu.

“Among the total 62 coronavirus positive cases, 58 are active carriers of the virus, two have recovered from it while two patients died in the hospital,” he said.

Of 977 samples tested for Covid 19 in J&K, 911 have tested negative, he said.

Kansal said the government has put 17041 persons under observation including 10355 persons who are under home quarantine.

‘We have kept 516 persons in hospital quarantine while the surveillance of 2157 has been completed,” he said.

Manzoor ul-Hassan