Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir’s COVID-19 tally reached 31,371 after 654 fresh infections were detected in the union territory on Friday, while 12 more deaths took the toll to 602, officials said.
Of the 654 new COVID-19 cases, 540 were reported from Kashmir, while 114 were recorded in the Jammu region, they said.
Srinagar district reported the highest number of 206 new cases, followed by 68 in Budgam, the officials said.
There are 6,973 active coronavirus cases, while 23,805 patients have recovered so far, they said.
All the fresh deaths were reported from Kashmir – five from Budgam, three from Srinagar besides one each from Baramulla, Pulmama, Shopian and Bandipora districts.
With these deaths, officials said, 602 people have succumbed to the virus in Jammu and Kashmir so far— 561 from the Valley and 41 from Jammu division.
Meanwhile, over 20 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a marriage ceremony in Srinagar’s Nowshara area, Health officials informed today.
Sources informed that after attending a marriage function, some of the family members of the bride and groom developed symptoms following which they were tested for COVID-19.
“So far over 20 members who have attended the function have tested positive. The exact number of infected persons will be ascertained after completing the contact tracing exercise of those who had attended the function,” said an official adding, “luckily both bride and groom are negative.”
The Health department officials informed it is the first instance where many people who had attended a marriage function tested positive.
The incident has again brought to fore the importance of following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the guidelines of social distancing, wearing masks and hand-washing.
Experts have been warning of organizing marriage functions and large gatherings stating that these events could further aggravate the situation in Srinagar district which is the epicenter of the COVID infections in Jammu and Kashmir.
