Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the highest one-day jump in COVID-19 patients on Wednesday as 33 locals tested positive, taking the total number to 158.
Government spokesman Rohit Kansal confirmed that 33 new positive cases were recorded. Of the 158 cases, the highest 151 were from the Kashmir division.
The sudden spike comes even as the authorities stepped up testing. Eleven tests came positive in Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura and 19 from the Chest Disease hospital. “Around 100 samples were sent for testing in the past 24 hours,” a doctor said.
Srinagar, which has the highest number of cases in the Kashmir Valley, saw addition of five more cases on Wednesday, who had a travel history. “One tested positive from Baramulla, four from Bandipora and one from Kupwara,” said an official. “The cases in Srinagar included the age groups of 16, 30, 36 and 38,” he added.
One patient from Tangmarg is 70-year-old with contact history and another 16-year-old from Kupwara, who has returned from Nizamuddin, New Delhi.
J&K has already put 40,336 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases under surveillance.
Door-to-door testing
Adviser to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, in-charge of coronavirus control efforts in the Kashmir Division, has called for door-to-door testing in red zones.
“Door-to-door testing of people residing in Red Zones must be conducted so that the chain of COVID-19 virus could be broken. There is need for sanitisation and fumigation, particularly in these zones,” he said.
