But recovery rate as good, and even better in many districts

Anantnag: The Covid-19 mortality rate in the ten districts of Kashmir division at 2.2 percent is higher than the national rate of 1.9 percent. The division has reported more than 510 deaths due to the virus, a major chunk of the overall 560 deaths in Jammu and Kashmir.
Across India, a total of 2.7 million positive cases of the virus have been reported thus far, of which 1.98 million have recovered and around 52 thousand people have died.
The figures translate into a mortality rate of about 1.9 per cent and a recovery rate of 73 percent.
“In Kashmir, however, we have a mortality rate of 2.2 percent and it is significantly higher than the national average, if not alarming,” an official privy to the records on Covid-19 told Kashmir Reader.
He said that a total of 22,434 people have been infected in Kashmir so far and more than 510 people have died due to the novel coronavirus. The worst mortality rate is, surprisingly, in Baramulla district and not Srinagar, even though the number of deaths in Srinagar district are way higher than in Baramulla or any other district.
“88 people have died in Baramulla district out of the total 2,438 infected. The mortality rate in the district is 3.6 percent, which is higher than Srinagar district by a whole notch where mortality rate stands at 2.5 percent,” the official said.
In Srinagar, 174 people have died so far out of the 6,960 infected by the virus.
The good news though is that three districts, Ganderbal, Bandipora and Shopian, have a mortality rate lower than the national average. “At 1.4, 1.4 and 1.5 percent mortality rate, in that order, these three districts seem to be doing pretty well,” the official said.
In Ganderbal 14 people have died out of 963 infected, while 22 people out of 1476 infected have lost their life in Bandipora, and 25 out of 1576 have died in Shopian district.
The recovery rate, too, gives some hope amid the distressing situation.
The overall recovery rate in Kashmir is the same as the national average, with some districts having a higher recovery rate.
In Kashmir division, 16,465 people have recovered so far out of the total infected, leaving the active cases at 5,462 only.
“This is a recovery rate of around 73 percent, exactly the same as the national average,” the official said, adding that some districts like Shopian (91 percent recovery rate), Kulgam (86 percent recovery rate) and Anantnag (78 percent recovery rate) were doing even better.
Surprisingly, though, the two districts with the lowest mortality rates — Ganderbal and Bandipora — have also the lowest recovery rates.
Bandipora has a recovery rate of only 50 percent and Ganderbal even lower, at 49 percent.
“The difference might be due to the time frame of the infections. Hopefully, these districts will catch up on the recovery rate as well,” the official said.

Suhail A Shah