Altaf Hamid Rao.
Tally rises to 240 in the State:
MIRPUR (AJK): After 13 new cases of novel corona virus registered during last 24 hours in Azad Jammu Kashmir, the number of confirmed corona-virus cases tested positive rose to 240 in the State on Saturday, AJK government spokesperson and minister for information Technology Dr. Mustafa Bashir has said.
Briefing media of the updated situation of pandemic in AJK in the State’s metropolis Saturday evening, , the minister confirmed the registration of 13 new cases in AJK which include nine belonging to capital Muzaffarabad district, 03 from Bagh and one from Rawalakot districts.
The spokesperson revealed that since the Corona testing capacity has been raised in Azad Jammu Kashmir, maximum of 250 cases were being tested per day basis in all the three PCR labs simultaneously operating one each at the Divisional Headquarter hospitals at all the three divisional headquarters. Dr. Bashir said that the existing daily Corona testing capacity by the PCR labs in AJK would be raised to 500 tests .
It may be added that a total of 06 casualties have so far been reported in entire Azad Jammu Kashmir because of the Corona Virus . These included five from Muzaffarabad district and only one from Mirpur district.
He revealed that the capital Muzaffarabad district had emerged the much Corona –hit district where 127 cases were tested at AIMS Hospital in the capital town in a single day of Saturday.
According to the spokesperson a total of 6500 suspected cases were sent for test, of whom the result of 6260 had been received with 240 positive cases across AJK so far.
Out of the total of 240 corona virus positive cases, 159 have been fully recovered and discharged from the different health facilities in various parts of the state by Saturday, he added.
A total of 81 patients tested positive, were receiving treatment in various state-run health facilities / isolation centers at present in various parts of the AJK state, the spokesperson said.
District Rapid Response teams with the coordination of the State Health Department mobile medicos were engaged in conducting the screening of all new entrants at all 07 entry / exit points in AJK including Gujrat-Bhimbher entry point besides Mangla, Dadayal, Holar, Azad Pattan, Kohala and Garhi Habib Ullah, the minister said.
Dr. Mustafa Bashir said that AJK Prime Minister has summoned extra ordinary meeting of his cabinet on June 03 to decide about the fate of AJK vis-à-vis the continuation of lock-down or semi-lock-down in line with the present needs in the larger interest of the safety and survival of the masses across AJK – with prime focus to control and avert the threat of the spread of Corona virus, he concluded.