12 expecting mothers, 6-month-old among 108 test positive

Srinagar: An elderly man from Budgam died of Coronavirus on Saturday, becoming the 12th victim of Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to officials, a 70-year-old man from Chadoora of Budgam district died on Saturday after testing positive for novel coronavirus, taking the Covid-19 death toll in Jammu and Kashmir to 12.

They said the patient was admitted to the hospital on Friday after complaining of uneasiness in the chest.

“He was suffering from some heart ailment and breathed his last today,” said SKIMS Medical Superintendent Dr Farooq A Jan.

“We took his samples immediately as doctors suspected him of having Covid-19 infection. He was detected positive today,” he said.

On Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir recorded another major spike in Covid-19 as 108 patients tested positive for the new virus. The total number of coronavirus cases has now risen to 1,121 in the region.

Among the new Coronavirus patients, 27 were tested positive at SKIMS lab while 17 cases were detected at Chest Diseases Hospital on Saturday, officials said.

They said 12 of the new Covid-19 patients have travel history as they returned to their native places recently.

Of the 17 new cases detected today at CD Hospital, 12 are pregnant women from Anantnag district and a 6-month-old infant from Kulgam, who is now the youngest Covid-19 patient in J&K.

Dr Jan said that 27 new patients tested positive for novel coronavirus in the virology lab of the institute out of 2,841 samples analysed in the last 24 hours.

“Of 27 new cases detected today at SKIMS, 10 have travel history. Their samples were received from Jammu recently,” he said.

“Among the remaining 17 Covid-19 cases, twelve are from Kupwara, one from Budgam and two each from Anantnag and Baramulla districts,” Dr Jan said.

The travellers have travel history to Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and New Delhi, the MS said.

Nodal Officer at GMC Srinagar, Dr M Saleem Khan, said that 27 samples were detected positive for the virus since Friday evening out of 1,002 samples tested.

“Thirteen patients belong to district Anantnag, three to Kulgam, and one is from Pulwama,” he said.

Dr Khan said 12 of the new Covid-19 cases detected at CD Hospital are expecting mothers who were tested for Covid-19 as part of the latest protocol.

Pregnant women in the last weeks of their pregnancy are being tested for the novel coronavirus to enable their delivery according to their Covid-19 status at hospitals earmarked for such situations.

“The youngest Covid-19 patient in J&K was detected today at CD Hospital. His age is just 6 months and he belongs to Khurbatpora Kulgam,” Dr Khan said.

Kulgam district recorded highest number of cases (47) detected on Saturday, followed by Anantnag (17), Kupwara and Ramban (12 cases each), Kathua (10), Budgam (5), Srinagar (3) and Baramulla (2).

Manzoor ul-Hassan