Anantnag: As the third wave of the pandemic is sweeping across Jammu and Kashmir, the major chunk of fresh infections has been reported from the Kashmir division of the union territory, while the Jammu division has been ahead in the number of fatalities caused by the infection.
In the month of January, so far, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a huge surge of 78,441 fresh infections and a total of 114 deaths caused due to the infection.
A look at the data shows that the Kashmir division has been much ahead in the number of fresh infections, reporting 52,381 of them in January. “Which essentially means Kashmir division has reported 66.7 percent of the cases,” an official privy to the data on Covid-19 said.
Jammu division, on the other hand, has reported only 26,060 fresh cases in January, which is just 33.2 percent of the whole tally. “Yes, there is a population gap, with Kashmir being more populous, but the numbers in Kashmir are still overwhelmingly higher than in Jammu,” the official said.
What is surprising though is that the number of deaths in Jammu is higher than in Kashmir division. Out of 114 total deaths, the Jammu division has reported 66 while only 48 people have died in Kashmir division. This means 57.8 percent of deaths have been reported from Jammu and only 42 percent in Kashmir division.
Kashmir Reader tried to get answers from some doctors, but all of them said it is too early to pass a verdict. “This might be a culmination of many factors. We will have to look at the age groups of the deceased, the co-morbidities and many other factors being reaching to a conclusion,” a doctor told Kashmir Reader.
This phenomenon, however, is peculiar to the third wave, for if we compare the overall numbers during the pandemic, Kashmir has been ahead both in the number of infections as well as deaths.
“What is happening will certainly need some research and probing,” the doctor said. “January’s death rate of 0.25 percent in the Jammu division is way higher than the death rate of 0.09 percent in Kashmir valley. Why this is happening needs to be looked into,” he said.
The two main districts of Srinagar and Jammu have been on the receiving end of this third wave of the pandemic. They have reported more cases than any other districts in the union territory.
In Kashmir division, Srinagar district has reported 17,201 fresh infections in January along with as many as 13 deaths, which translates to over 32 percent of the total infections across the ten districts of Kashmir division.
Jammu district is faring even worse, with a total of 26,060 infections and 37 deaths. “Jammu district has contributed over 59 percent of the total case tally in the division in January. 37 deaths is a huge number as well, out of a total of 66 deaths in the division,” the official in the administration said.
He said that the myth that Omicron was a milder infection has been put to rest by such a huge number of deaths and people need to be vigilant. “We do not want to make it worse. People should abide by Covid Appropriate Behaviour, no matter what,” he said.

Suhail A Shah