Doctor, 8 patients test positive for coronavirus in Kashmir; J-K count 790

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar May 7

A doctor and eight patients are among the 15 persons tested positive for the coronavirus in Kashmir, taking the total case load in Jammu and Kashmir to 790. So far, four doctors, a nurse, and three healthcare workers have been exposed to the virus.

Officials said a senior doctor of Super Speciality (SS) hospital Shireenbagh, six patients of Bone and Joints hospital, and two patients of Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital, including the deceased youth of Kralpora-Hawal, tested positive for coronavirus.

“All these nine samples were tested for coronavirus at Chest Disease (CD) hospital lab,” a senior health official told The Tribune.

He said CD hospital lab conducted 719 tests and 15 were under process. “We have received 450 fresh samples,” he said.

Six people tested positive for coronavirus at the laboratory of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, officials said.

A 32-year-old man, Asif Mir, of Kralpora-Hawal locality of Srinagar died within hours at SMHS hospital after he developed cytokine storm — an immune system response wherein the body starts to attack its own cells and tissues rather than just fighting off the virus.

He was attending to his father at Gastroenterology department of SS hospital since April 25. A patient and an attendant had tested positive for coronavirus at SS hospital while as Mir’s father tested negative twice for the coronavirus despite sharing the same ward.

At least 60 doctors and employees were tested for coronavirus at SS hospital after a female patient tested positive for the virus last week.