Like the rest of the country, Jammu and Kashmir is also witnessing a surge in the Covid death toll. A spurt in Covid cases has overwhelmed the hospitals leading to the unavailability of beds in hospitals.
“Hospitals are getting overwhelmed as more and more people are arriving with moderate to severe Covid pneumonia, many people test negative but radiologically check suggests Covid”, says a doctor. “There is a severe shortage of beds,” he added.
The government said 4716 new positive cases of Covid-19 were reported on Wednesday taking the total number of positive cases to 1, 96,585. As many as 52 Covid-19 deaths were also reported on Wednesday. Out of 1,96,585 positive cases, 39,628 are active cases of Covid-19.
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With each passing day, the UT is reporting an increase in fresh Covid cases.
On May 1, the government said 3832 new positive cases including 1231 from Jammu and 2601 Kashmir were reported and 47 Covid-19 deaths took place; 30 in Jammu and 17 in Kashmir.
The next day, on May 2, 3571 new positive cases, 1150 from Jammu and 2421 from Kashmir were reported and 41 Covid-19 deaths took place; 28 in Jammu and 13 in Kashmir.
On May 3, 3733 new cases were reported from the region and 51 Covid-19 deaths took place of which 35 were reported in Jammu and 16 in Kashmir.
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On May 4, 4650 new positive cases, 1463 from Jammu and 3187 from Kashmir were reported and 37 persons died of Covid-19 deaths; 25 in Jammu and 12 in Kashmir.
According to doctors mostly elderly people are dying due to the Covid-19 but there are deaths in the age group of 20 to 40 too.
Even the BJP slammed the government over Covid mismanagement. The party’s vice president, Yudhvir Sethi Thursday accused the government of “not doing enough to contain the alarming surge in Covid cases despite knowing that second wave will be more dangerous.”
While addressing a press conference he said that the medical department has done nothing when it came to equipping itself to cater to the needs of the people despite Covid wreaking havoc in the entire region for more than one year.
“This really is criminal on the part of the government. The mechanical wing of the health department has miserably failed in doing its job of providing hassle-free oxygen to the patients in the GMC and its associated hospitals,” he added.
“There is a dire need for the health department to release bulletin on a daily basis so that people will have a clear picture about occupancy and availability of beds in hospitals during any exigency. It is the need of the time that government should come up with at least a 2000-bed Covid hospital with all the required facilities including uninterrupted oxygen supply to make robust infrastructure ahead of the third wave of the contagion as predicted by some of the experts in the field.”
