Anantnag: Srinagar, the most populous district of Kashmir, continues to contribute the maximum cases of Covid-19, and also the maximum fatalities, among all districts. In the past month (since August 16), Srinagar has accounted for 32 percent of the new cases and 33 percent of the deaths related to Covid-19 in Kashmir division. In total, it has registered 5,252 new cases in this period.
“This is exactly 32 percent of the total cases reported across ten districts of Kashmir valley,” a senior official, keeping record of the figures, told Kashmir Reader. The total positive cases reported in the ten districts since August 16 is 16,353.
The number of cases in Srinagar has almost doubled from 6,915 to 12,167, while 83 people have died of Covid-19 in the district in this past month.
“246 people have died in the past one month in Kashmir division and 83 of them were Srinagar residents,” the official said. “It means 33 percent of the deaths have occurred in this district.”
The official said that the numbers were alarming, despite the fact that Srinagar was the most populous district in Kashmir with a total population of 12.4 lakh.
“Anantnag and Baramulla, with more or less the same population, are doing fairly better, if not exceptionally well, as far as the number of cases and deaths is concerned,” the official said.
Analysing the data provided by the official, Anantnag district with a population of about 10.8 lakh has reported a total 3,013 positive cases of the virus. If the past one month is taken into account, the district has witnessed only 1,241 new cases.
“This is in stark contrast to Srinagar’s over 5k cases. Besides, Anantnag district has witnessed only 16 deaths in the last one month,” the official said, adding that the same was the case with Baramulla district in north Kashmir, which has a population of around 10.1 lakh.
In Baramulla, 1,180 new cases of the virus and 26 deaths have been recorded in the past one month.
“The total cases in Baramulla are 2,429, which is again way lower than Srinagar,” the official said.
Srinagar district continues to be at the top of the list since the beginning of the pandemic. If the overall figures are analysed, Srinagar district’s share in the total number of cases in Kashmir division is 31 percent and in the deaths caused by the virus, it has a share of about 34 percent.
The first case of the virus in Kashmir valley was also detected in Srinagar district.

Suhail A Shah