Health ministry team to visit Jammu as Covid situation ‘alarming’, says Union Minister Singh

A total of 1,329 fresh cases of Covid were recorded in the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir — 741 in the Jammu region and 588 in the Kashmir valley, officials said.

A medical worker checks the body temperature of a man while screening people for Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir | representational image | Photo: ANI

New Delhi: In view of the rising coronavirus cases in Jammu, a team from the Union Health Ministry is being immediately sent there to assist the administration, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

Singh, the minister of state for personnel, said he has spoken to Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha in this regard.

“Have taken up with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the issue of alarming #COVID situation in #Jammu. A special team of union Health Ministry is being immediately deputed to visit #Jammu and assist the UT Government. Also spoken to LG Sh Manoj Sinha regarding this,” he tweeted.

Singh is a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur constituency.

A total of 1,329 fresh cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir — 741 in the Jammu region and 588 in the Kashmir valley, officials had said on Tuesday.

Of the fresh cases, Jammu district reported the highest at 254, followed by 148 in Srinagar district, they had said.

Nineteen coronavirus-related fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours — 14 in the Jammu region and five in the Valley — taking the death toll to 914 in the Union Territory, they said.

There are 18,678 active cases in the UT as of now, while 37,062 patients have recovered, according to the officials.