Ladakh becomes COVID-19 free, as all active cases recover

Ladakh union territory has become COVID-19 free as nineteen more positive patients were discharged from a hospital in Leh district after being recovered from the disease.

With this, the number of recoveries in the Union Territory has reached 43. Ladakh had recorded a total of 43 positive cases. Neighboring Kargil district was declared COVID-19 free on May 15 after the last two patients, including a two-year-old boy, were declared recovered and subsequently discharged.

Officials said while the 17 recovered patients were discharged from the hospital on Monday(May 18), the remaining two were allowed to go home on Tuesday (May 19) after their reports tested negative.

Ladakh region has not reported any fresh COVID-19 case since May 3 when 18 positive cases were detected from the Chuchot-Yokma area.

The Ladakh UT, which has a population of 2.74 lakh (2011 census), was one of the first few regions in the country to report a positive coronavirus case. The first two positive cases in the UT were reported on March 7 with both the patients having travel history to Iran.