J&K records 1148 new COVID cases; Govt confirms Wave is Omicron-led

Srinagar: J&K had its highest increase in COVID19 cases in the past seven months on Tuesday with 1148 people testing positive. The lightning-fast increase in cases, J&K Government said, is Omicron led.

In the past seven days, the number of cases in J&K has increased sixfold. From 199 cases on January 4, the cases have increased to 1148 on January 11. The fast pace of case rise is Omicron-led in J&K according to the UT Government.

Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Health and Medical Education, Vivek Bhardwaj said that Omicron has been confirmed in both Kashmir and Jammu divisions.

“Even if we did not have lab confirmation of Omicron, the speed at which the cases are increasing makes it evident that Omicron is responsible for the Wave,” he said. He called the current wave in J&K, “Omicron Wave” and said that the Government was readying itself to test more and more samples for early detection.

Bhardwaj said that there was “no antidote to the wave” but said, “COVID19 appropriate behaviour” could help in saving lives. “We have adequate oxygen beds, ventilators and staff in place and hopefully, we may not need all of these but our guard is up,” he said.

Today, of the total cases, 640 were from the Jammu division and 508 from Kashmir division. In Jammu district, there were 301 cases and in district Srinagar, there were 256 cases today. A significant rise was recorded in districts of Baramulla, Budgam, Udhampur, Kathua, Poonch and Reasi.

Today, 138 travellers tested positive in the UT, the highest in the past seven months. The high number of travellers testing positive reflected a spread of the Virus in other parts of India. In the Srinagar district only, 60 people sampled upon return from other states were positive, many of these at the Airport. In Reasi district, which gets a high travellers traffic in Katra, 33 travellers were detected positive.

Two lives were lost to the viral infection in J&K today, the deceased belonging to the Jammu division. The past week has seen both deaths and cases rise drastically in the Jammu division.

The official bulletin on COVID19 said that the number of tests carried out in the past 24 hours was 54679 today. No case of Mucormycosis was attributed to COVID19 today. 90634 vaccine doses were administered, the bulletin said.