Anantnag: The number of deaths caused due to Covid has been on a rise in Jammu and Kashmir despite a significant fall in the number of infections as well as the hospitalisation rate.
On Wednesday, only 681 new infections were recorded from across Jammu and Kashmir, which is considerably lower than what was witnessed through most of the previous month.
However, as many as 4 Covid related deaths were also reported on Wednesday evening. “These 4 deaths have taken the overall death toll in the first nine days of February to 58,” a senior official in the administration, privy to data on Covid-19, told Kashmir Reader, adding, “though only over 13,360 fresh infections have been reported in this month thus far.”
The numbers throw up an interesting statistic. The deaths in February are already 39.7 percent of the 146 deaths recorded in the month of January, wherein over 94,000 fresh cases were reported as well.
“The numbers mean that the death rate in January was only 0.15 percent, while in February we are already witnessing a death rate of around 0.43 percent,” the official said.
Besides, the death toll in February is already higher than the individual death toll in the last six months of the last year. “Only November, December, and July have a death toll closer to what we have witnessed in the first nine days of February thus far,” the official said.
The only pattern emerging thus far has been that the Jammu division has been witnessing more deaths as compared to the Kashmir division. This is despite the fact that the number of fresh infections is higher in the Kashmir division.
In February, 31 out of the 58 deaths have been reported from Jammu division and only 27 of them in Kashmir division. “Despite the fact that more than 56 percent of the fresh infections have been reported from the Kashmir division,” the official said.
The same was true in January as well, wherein 86 of the 146 deaths were witnessed in Jammu and only 60 of them in Kashmir, even as Kashmir reported double the new infections Jammu did in the month.
The rising deaths in February, experts say, are particularly a cause of concern given the significant drop in all other indicators. The hospitalisation rate has come down to a paltry 5.36 percent across the union territory.
“Also, the daily positivity rate has gone down to only 0.90 percent and is inching closer to what it was at the start of January. The higher number of deaths in such a scenario is a grave cause of concern,” the official said.
The administration has meanwhile called off the weekend lockdown in Kashmir valley, which was imposed to contain the spread of the infection. “People need to remain extremely cautious, however. The pandemic is not over yet,” the official said.

Suhail A Shah