Anantnag: There has been a dramatic slowdown in the number of infections as well as deaths caused by Covid in the last ten days of February, apparently marking the end of the disastrous third wave that Jammu and Kashmir witnessed in the previous month.
Only 3 people have died between February 18 and 27, even as the number of daily infections has come down to double digits and is consistently staying there.
“A comparison with the first 17 days of February shows us how drastically the numbers have come down,” a senior official, privy to data on Covid-19, told Kashmir Reader.
The total death toll of February in Jammu and Kashmir is 74. Only 3 people have died in the last ten days, though, as compared to the first seventeen days which witnessed 71 deaths.
“Besides, the infections have been fewer as well. If you have a look at the last few days, the number of infections has been in double digits. Only 54 cases were reported on Sunday,” the official said, adding that overall in the last ten days only 966 fresh cases have been reported.
With the cases coming down, the daily test positivity rate, as well as hospitalisation rate, has come down to negligible levels. On Sunday, February 27, the daily positivity rate was 0.09 percent, which is way lower than it was at the start of the third wave.
“On January 1, the daily positivity rate was around 0.25 percent. That essentially means we have been making steady progress overall,” the official said.
The hospitalisation rate in Jammu and Kashmir has also dropped to 0.49 percent, with 24 people currently hospitalised for the infection.
Overall, as well, February has been better than January in terms of Covid caseload and fatalities. In the entire February only 17,530 fresh infections were reported from across Jammu and Kashmir. In January, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed over 94,000 fresh infections, which left as many as 146 people dead.
“We are moving in the positive direction and let us hope that this is the end of the third wave as well as of the pandemic,” the official said.
Though 788 people still remain positive for the virus, 450 of them Jammu region and the rest in Kashmir division, the good part is that fresh infections are now almost negligible and coming down further.

Suhail A Shah