Image Source: THE TRIBUNE

Ladakh reported the highest single day spike on Sunday with 19 fresh cases of coronavirus, triggering worries among the authorities as well as residents. Of these, 18 cases are from Leh while one is from Kargil district. With this, the tally of cases in Ladakh has gone up to 42, including 33 in Leh district and nine in Kargil. Of them, 17 infected persons have recovered so far and there are 25 active patients in the region, including 20 in Leh. At least 18 test samples reported positive from the 78 received yesterday. With this sudden jump, Leh district now has total 20 active cases, Sachin Kumar Vaishya, District Magistrate, Leh, said. With the increase in positive cases, the district of Leh is again under the red zone (earlier it was placed in orange category) and therefore, restrictions as per the MHA advisory will be followed. It is also mandatory that every person under containment zone and those entering the district download the Aarogya Setu application on their mobile phones, he said. Giving details, the District Magistrate said 16 cases out of 18 new cases in Leh were from Chuchot Yokma area, which is already a containment zone, while another case was reported from Zangsti area of Leh city. One positive case was detected through Aarogya Setu app in Leh town. We will now start contact tracing of the new cases,” Vaishya said, adding “The sampling process has been halted as NCDC, New Delhi, is over-burdened. Meanwhile, another positive case was reported from Kargil district, taking the total active cases in the district to five. This was confirmed by Deputy Commissioner Baseer Ul Haq Choudhary. Earlier, a fresh case was reported in the district yesterday. According to sources, the positive case was identified as one of the Iran returnee pilgrims who was recently airlifted from Jodhpur to Ladakh and is presently under institutional quarantine at Muthahary Public School, Kargil.