Two more COVID-19 fatality reported in J&K; death toll reaches 23

Two more people, including a 63-year-old lawyer, have died of coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir, taking the death toll due to the disease in the Union Territory to 23, officials said on Monday.

Both of them the lawyer from Jammu and a 65-year-old woman from Kulgam district of south Kashmir had undergone COVID-19 tests last week and their results came out as positive after their death, the officials said.

The Jammu lawyer breathed his last at the Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Science (ASCOMS) Hospital due to multiple complications on Sunday, the officials said.

"We had the first coronavirus-related death. The deceased had co-morbidities also and was admitted to the hospital on May 22," Medical Superintendent, ASCOMS, Dr Rabinder Rattanpal told PTI.

He said the hospital had taken all necessary precautions during the treatment of the patient and had collected his sample for coronavirus testing after admission.

"We received the report hours after his death on Sunday night and the set protocol is being followed to hand over his body to the concerned," he said.

This was the third COVID-related death in Jammu region. Earlier, the test report of a 72-year-old man had come out as positive for coronavirus shortly after his death in Jammu on May 13. On April 9, a 61-year-old woman from Udhampur district died of the disease.

"A 65-year-old lady from Bugam village in Kulgam was admitted to SMHS Hospital Srinagar on Friday with bilateral pneumonia but died the next day. Her reports came today and she tested positive for COVID-19," an official said.

The body of the woman had been kept in the mortuary as doctors had suspected that she might be COVID-19 positive.

The official said the Kulgam district administration has been informed about the woman's death and contact-tracing has begun.

Her death raised the toll in Kashmir valley to 20, with the highest number of six fatalities in Srinagar, followed by four each in Anantnag and Baramulla districts, three in Kulgam, two in Budgam and one in Bandipora district.

A total of 1,621 positive cases were reported across Jammu and Kashmir, including 1,360 in the Valley and 261 in Jammu region, till Sunday evening. Among them, 809 patients have recovered.