J&K recorded more than five COVID-19 deaths in the age group of 20 to 49 in the past two days, triggering an alarm among experts on the virus taking a toll on the younger population.
The Srinagar administration imposed Section 144 in Srinagar on Tuesday, as J&K recorded the highest 3,164 cases pushing the active cases to 22,283. Sringar recorded the highest 1,144 in the Union Territory (UT) in the past 24 hours.
The Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) fears that delayed admission of patients could be the reason behind the spike in the deaths.
“Coronavirus patients arrive at hospitals only when their condition worsens. We receive patients with critically low oxygen saturation levels — as low as 50-60%. The delay is proving fatal and is contributing to the high mortality,” said DAK president and influenza expert Dr. Nisar ul Hassan.
He said silent hypoxia, where patients with extremely low blood oxygen levels show no signs of difficulty in breathing, is a worrying trend. “By the time such patients feel trouble breathing, they are already dangerously sick and need to be put on ventilators. Most of them die.,”
Dr. Shams Ifran, a physician working at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial hospital, said: “Five to eight percent young unvaccinated people are having COVID-induced multisystem inflammation, especially in lungs. It was seen earlier in the U.S. too. The coronavirus does play havoc in some cases and the virus still remains unpredictable.”
At least three people among the 25 who died on Tuesday were less than 49.
The officials said the number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir has swelled to 22,283 — 13,436 from the Kashmir division and 8,847 from the Jammu division.
“In view of the massive spurt in positive cases in Srinagar and after due deliberations, Section 144 of the CrPC is imposed hereby within the municipal limits of the district to contain further spread of the epidemic. Assembly of five or more persons is banned with immediate effect,” Mr. Asad said.
The move comes as the recovery rate is far lower than the admissions witnessed in hospitals on a daily basis of late.
