227, including 40 CRPF personnel, test positive for COVID-19 in J-K; 8 more die

As many as 227 people, including 40 CRPF personnel, tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, taking the union territory's case count to 8,246, while eight more fatalities pushed its toll to 127, officials said.

All deaths and the majority of the fresh cases were reported from Kashmir."Eight people, who were COVID-19 positive, have died over the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir," the officials said.

All of these deaths were reported from Kashmir, they said.This has taken the death toll due to COVID-19 in the union territory to 127. Of the total deaths, 14 were reported from Jammu and 113 from the Kashmir division. Meanwhile, 227 new COVID-19 cases were detected in the union territory during the last 24 hours. While 30 of these were from the Jammu region, 197 were from the valley.

There are 2,976 active cases in the union territory. A total of 5,143 patients have recovered from the infection. The cases detected on Saturday included 29 persons who had returned to the union territory recently. "Today's cases also include 40 (personnel) from various CRPF battalions in the valley," the officials said. No fresh cases were detected in five districts -- Ganderbal, Kathua, Ramban, Reasi and Kishtwar -- in the last 24 hours. With Saturday's infections, the total number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir has risen to 8,246. "Of these, 6,524 are in Kashmir, while 1,722 are in the Jammu region," the officials said. PTI SSB DIV DIV