Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir recorded 172 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the infection count to 1,29,203, even as no fresh coronavirus-related death was reported in the past 24 hours, officials said.
Of the new cases which included 46 travellers, 131 were from the Kashmir Valley and 41 were from the Jammu division, they said.
Srinagar district recorded the highest 65 cases, including 25 travellers, followed by 34 in Jammu district, they said.
Eight districts did not report any new cases, while eight others had cases in single digits. Two other districts — Baramulla and Budgam — had cases in double digits apart from Srinagar and Jammu, officials said.
The number of active cases, which has been rising steadily over the past week, currently stands at 1,593, while 1,25,627 patients have recovered so far, the officials said.
The death toll due to COVID-19 stands at 1,983. No new deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, they added.
Amid a spike in coronavirus cases over the last week, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday said his administration is taking necessary measures to counter the challenge.
“We have had a lot of success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a spike in past few days and we are taking necessary measures in this direction,” Sinha told reporters in Jammu.
He said attempts would be made to scale up the vaccination drive as he urged people to follow the issued COVID-19 guidelines religiously for everyone’s safety.
“Everyone knows what has to be done to safeguard themselves and those around them. People need to follow COVID-19 protocols seriously to control its spread,” he said.
Responding to a question about the impact of the pandemic on the developmental work last year, he said, “It is a reality that the COVID outbreak hit public projects across the globe. It is natural and not man-made virus… let us wait for that time when developmental works don’t get hit even if there is a natural calamity”.
