With 7 new cases of COVID-19 in J&K, total goes up to 62

The Jammu and Kashmir government said seven people tested positive on Wednesday taking the number of coronavirus cases in the Union Territory to 62, an official said.

Principal Secretary Planning, Information, Rohit Kansal told reporters that there are 62 positive cases of COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir till now.

Giving a breakup of the figures at a press briefing, Kansal said 58 are active cases of which 48 are in Kashmir division and 10 in Jammu division.

A total of 17,041 cases are under surveillance so far. This is a dynamic process and while some cases who complete their period are being released for home quarantine, newer cases keep getting added as per contact tracing results, Kansal, who is also the government spokesperson, said.

The government is conscious that there has been concern among the public about many cases being tested positive, he pointed out.

However, we would like to emphasise that we have a robust tracing process. Many of the positive cases could be traced as a result of a vigorous contact tracing exercise undertaken by the administration," Kansal added.

As per the daily bulletin on novel coronavirus, seven new positive cases of COVID-19, all from Kashmir division, taking the total to 62.

Till date, 17,041 travellers and other people who came in contact with suspected cases have been put under surveillance which include 10,355 people in home quarantine including at facilities operated by the government, 516 in hospital quarantine, 52 in hospital isolation and 3,961 under home surveillance, the bulletin stated.

Besides, 2,157 people have completed their 28-day surveillance period, it added.

Further, the bulletin stated that till date 977 samples have been sent for testing of which 911 have tested as negative, 62 positive and 4 reports are awaited.

As many as 300 people have been released from quarantine facilities in Kathua and sent home on Wednesday, while 236 people were discharged from various quarantine facilities in Srinagar city earlier in the day after they completed their isolation period, officials said.