J&K’s COVID-19 tally crosses 200

7 Kerala residents among 23 tested positive in J&K

J&K’s COVID-19 tally crosses 200

Srinagar: Twenty-three more persons were tested positive for novel coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, taking the total number of positive cases to 207, including four deaths and six recoveries, officials said.

They said the fresh Covid-19 cases detected today in Kashmir include seven Kerala residents who were part of a religious congregation and had entered Srinagar last month without informing the authorities.

“We had recently collected nearly 25 samples of non-local residents from Kerala and sent them to Chest Diseases Hospital for coronavirus testing. Today seven of them have tested positive for the new virus,” said Dr Bilquis Shah, the officer in charge of Covid-19 at JLNM Hospital.

A Chattabal resident who was accompanying the Kerala residents also tested positive for coronavirus today at CD Hospital, she said.

According to her, the Chief Medical Officer Srinagar had sent the non-local patients to JLNM hospital on April 8 for collecting their samples.

“They were undergoing quarantine at EDI Pampore from April 4 as per their medical records,” Dr Shah said.

Nodal Officer for Coronavirus at GMC Srinagar, Dr M Saleem Khan, told Kashmir Reader that the virology lab of Chest Diseases Hospital tested 97 samples today and only eight of them tested positive for the new virus.

Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Shahid Iqbal Choudhary also announced about the eight new cases. He claimed that that there was no need to panic.

“8 Covid positive in Srinagar today sounds panicky, but it is not. This is a classic tracing success story: found a group of non-local visitors, acted fast, quarantined. 7/8 are from (one) group, 8th their local contact. Please help report,”Choudhary tweeted.

Earlier, government spokesman Rohit Kansal confirmed that the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir had mounted to 207 with 39 cases in Jammu and 168 in the valley.

“Total positive cases in J&K now 207. Jammu-39; Kashmir-168,” Kansal tweeted.

At SKIMS, ten patients were found positive among 150 samples tested today. Four samples had come from GMC Baramulla while three were received from CHC Kupwara, said Dr Farooq Jan, Medical Superintendant of SKIMS.

“Five patients have travel history either to New Delhi or Bangladesh while the remaining patients are the contacts of already positive cases,” he said.

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