As Covid-19 cases drop, Jammu and Kashmir orders partial reopening of markets, public transport on May 31

As Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing a steady decline in Covid-19 cases and deaths, authorities on Sunday announced partial reopening of markets and public transport from May 31.

From a peak of 73 deaths on May 17, the Union Territory (UT) recorded 29 fatalities on Sunday. It was for the first time since April 29 that the UT logged below 30 Covid-19 related deaths. Similarly, from a peak of 5,443 Covid cases on May 7 the number has come down to 2,219 on Sunday.

The fresh 2,219 positive cases came from 41,719 tests conducted in the last 24 hours while the single-day record of positive cases (5,443) had come out of 49,781 tests. From the high of 10.93 per cent on May 7, the positivity rate has come down to 5.31 per cent as on Sunday.

Out of the total 3,870 Covid deaths, the UT has recorded 1,587 deaths in 30 days of this month alone, which is over 41 per cent of its total Covid-related fatalities. Similarly, out of a total 2,78,859 positive cases, J&K has recorded 1,12,857 cases in alone May which is over 40 per cent of total cases.

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The number of active cases in J&K has also come down from a peak of 52,848 on May 13 to 37,677 on Sunday.

With 3,805 more recoveries on Sunday, the tally of total recoveries in the UT has reached 2,47,393 which is nearly 86 per cent of the total cases.

According to a daily media bulletin, 5,976 hospital beds have been designated for Covid-19 patients, of which 2,336 are currently occupied by patients admitted in various hospitals across J&K. 1,951 Covid patients are on oxygen support and 117 on ventilator support, the bulletin added.

Over 32 lakh individuals have been administered Covid-19 vaccines, out of which nearly 26 lakh are above 45 years of age. The pace of vaccination had slowed down earlier this month due to a shortage of vaccines at government-run centres, many of which remained closed for more than a week.

Meanwhile, amid a steady decline in Covid cases and deaths, the J&K government on Sunday announced partial reopening of markets and public transport from May 31. The respective deputy commissioners have been asked to frame a roster to facilitate the partial reopening of markets. Public transport has been allowed to operate at 50 per cent of the authorized seating capacity.

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The J&K administration had on April 29 imposed a complete lockdown in the UT to contain the spread of the virus.

J&K is among the highest Covid-19 case density areas in the country with over 22,250 cases per million of the population. According to the 2011 census, J&K’s population is 12.5 million.

The national average per million population so far is over 20,000. With poor health infrastructure and climatic conditions, Valley also becomes one of the most high-risk zones for the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus outbreak was reported in Jammu and Kashmir on 7 March 2020, when two persons tested positive for the deadly infection. The peak of the first wave was September 12 when 1,698 positive cases were reported.