South Kashmir nears 1k mark, at highest rate of incidence

South Kashmir nears 1k mark, at highest rate of incidence

Anantnag: With the number of Covid-19 cases in Kulgam and Pulwama districts crossing the 300 and 100 marks, in that order, the total cases in south Kashmir region are only 27 shy of the 1,000 mark, but more worrying is the rate of 389 patients per million population, which is more than double the national average of 158.
In the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the average is 228 cases per million, much less than in south Kashmir.
“The number of cases in the four districts of south Kashmir currently stands at 973. The population of south Kashmir is 2.5 million, which makes the number of cases per million as 389,” a health official told Kashmir Reader, adding that it was a worrying trend.
The major contributor to the number of cases has been Anantnag district, with a total of 350 positive cases registered thus far.
“The district, however, has the major share in the population of south Kashmir as well. Out of the 2.5 million inhabitants of south Kashmir, more than one million reside in our district,” an official of the district administration said.
He acknowledged that the rate of incidence was worrying, “for even if we take Anantnag in isolation, the cases per million are still 350,” he said.
The neighbouring Kulgam district, with a population of just 0.4 million, is another disturbing case. The district has recorded 313 patients and has seen fewer recoveries than other districts.
The district has more than 70 percent of its cases from among travels who returned home from elsewhere. Deputy Commissioner of the district, Showkat Aijaz Bhat, attributes the higher number of cases to aggressive testing by the administration.
“We have not been complacent with testing. More than 6 thousand residents have returned home and every one of them has been tested, followed by a strict quarantine period,” Bhat told Kashmir Reader.
Pulwama district remains the least affected of the four districts. With a population of just over 0.7 million, it has recorded 105 positive cases of Covid-19 so far.
“This, however, is no good news given that the district was declared Covid-19 free a few days back. There has been a steady increase in the number of positive cases,” an official in the district administration told Kashmir Reader, requesting not to be named.
He added that travellers in the list are only 38, which makes the scenario all the more disturbing for the administration in particular and for people in general.
The tally in Shopian district of the region, with a population of a meagre 0.27 million, has also crossed the 200 mark, with as many as 24 new cases found positive on Wednesday.
“None of the new positive cases is a traveller, which is worrisome to say the least,” a health official from the district said.
He said that the district witnessed fewer cases between an initial surge and a resurgence now. “It needs to be seen what went wrong in between,” he said.
The south Kashmir region also contributes about 35 percent of the total deaths in Jammu and Kashmir. The four districts have witnessed 12 deaths in total, 5 in Anantnag, 4 in Kulgam, 3 in Shopian, and none, so far, in Pulwama.
The total number of Covid-19 related deaths in J&K currently stands at 34.

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