Srinagar: The surge in COVID-19 continues as J&K reported one death and 779 fresh cases during the last 24 hours, the government said Thursday.
The number of active cases also swelled to 4991, an increase of 50 cases during the last 24 hours.
Kashmir division has 3508 active cases while the Jammu division has 1483 active cases.
Account to the government, around 81 percent of cases were reported in Kashmir as out of the total 779 cases, 637 cases were reported from Kashmir and 142 from Jammu, taking the overall tally to 4,67,422.
The number of active positive cases in Jammu is witnessing a dwindling trend.
With a fresh death reported from the Jammu division, the death toll due to COVID-19 in J&K has reached 4774 – 2429 in the Kashmir division and 2345 in the Jammu division.
Moreover, 727 COVID-19 infected persons recovered and were discharged from various hospitals including 430 from the Kashmir division and 297 from the Jammu division, taking the total recoveries to 4,57,657.
Over the past few weeks, there is no let-up in the surge in COVID-19 cases, making the situation worrisome.
Kashmir region is showing a spike in the daily count of cases despite government directives in place to combat the spread of the infection.
In the wake of the continuous spike in the daily count of cases, wearing face masks was made mandatory in all the districts by the administration.
However, there has been poor implementation of the government directive and the adherence to COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB), contributing to the spread of the virus.
The virus has started affecting students in schools and universities as well, creating panic among the parents and other stakeholders who have called for better implementation of COVID-19 SoPs in educational institutions.
The Shuhama faculty of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K) on Wednesday stopped its offline classes for a week after the students tested positive and the varsity authorities reported a rise in COVID-19 cases among the faculty members.
Meanwhile, providing a district-wise breakup of active positive cases, an official spokesman said Srinagar recorded 248 cases, the highest among all the districts across J&K while the number of active cases in the district has also swelled to 1613.
Jammu district reported 59 cases, witnessing a considerable decrease in the daily count of cases as the number has fallen to two digits.
The daily count of cases in the district was in three digits for the last few weeks.
Baramulla district reported 156 cases while the active cases swelled up to 1125. The active cases in the district have seen a major spike over the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, Budgam district reported 80 cases, Kupwara 45, Anantnag 40, Kulgam 23, Bandipora 22, Doda 18, Pulwama and Kishtwar 15 each, Ramban and Kathua 11 each, Udhampur 10, Poonch seven, Ganderbal, Samba, and Rajouri five each, Shopian two, and Reasi one case.
The government has cautioned the heads of health institutions and directed the concerned authorities to speed up testing while the experts have raised concern over the continuous surge in COVID-19 and urged people to adopt preventive measures besides adhering to COVID-19 protocol already in place.