Anantnag: Into the ninth month of the Covid-19 pandemic that has afflicted almost 70k people in Kashmir valley, the recovery rate has now reached more than 94 percent, with less than 4 percent of the infected remaining positive for the novel coronavirus.
The death rate in Kashmir valley, which comprises ten districts, has hovered at below 2 percent consistently and is at 1.67 percent now.
The first case of coronavirus infection in Kashmir was reported on March 18 from Khanyar area of Srinagar, the district which has continued to be the epicenter of the pandemic here in Kashmir.
“The case load has reached 66,072 in the ten districts of Kashmir valley,” an official privy to the records on Covid-19 told Kashmir Reader on Wednesday.
The good news, however, he said, is that more than 94 percent people have recovered already and are back to being healthy.
“62,372 people have recovered and already tested negative. Only 2,593 remain still infected, which comes to a positivity rate of 3.92 percent,” the official said.
He added that 1,107 infected people have lost their lives, a fatality rate of 1.67 percent. “This is substantially more than the national average of 1.4 percent but is still better than many other places in the country and around the world,” the official said.
Srinagar district has remained worst affected in every aspect, be it the number of overall cases, the recovery rate, or the number of active cases.
The district has so far recorded 23,177 cases of which 21,640 have recovered.
“The recovery rate is only 93.3 percent, the lowest in the ten districts. As many as 1,119 people (at a rate of 4.8 percent) still remain positive in the district, which is the highest in Kashmir valley,” the official said, adding that Srinagar with 418 deaths (at a rate of 1.8 percent) was only behind Baramulla district, which has a death rate of more than two percent.
South Kashmir’s two districts, Kulgam and Shopian, have continued to be the bright spots amid this fight against the coronavirus. The daily tally in these districts has dropped to single digits, while the active cases have dropped below a hundred.
“With a total of 2,596 cases, Kulgam district now has only 55 active cases while Shopian district has a total of 79 active cases, with an overall tally of 2,353,” the official said.
Also, Shopian district has the lowest number of deaths caused by the virus, at 37.

Suhail A Shah