Srinagar: A 72-year-old man died of the novel coronavirus infection (Covid-19) in a Srinagar hospital Saturday, taking the number of such fatalities in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) to six.

Further, as many as 40 new COVID-19 positive cases surfaced in the Union Territory (UT), all of them from the Kashmir Valley. However, hospital sources said 42 people tested positive till 5 pm Saturday.

The government’s spokesman Rohit Kansal said the jump in positive cases should be seen in the light of J&K “finally breaking the 1000 test barrier.” He said 1,071 samples were tested in the last 24 hours from which 40 positives emerged, taking the state’s tally of corona positive cases to 494 including 437 in the Valley and the rest in Jammu region of the UT.

The officials also said that nearly 120 COVID-19 patients have recovered in J&K.  Also most of the 17 more such patients who are under treatment at a hospital in Ladakh’s main town Leh too are reported to have recovered.

In J&K, more than 66,000 travellers and persons in contact with suspected COVID-19 cases have been enlisted for surveillance. They include over 6000 persons in home quarantine including facilities operated by government, nearly 300 in hospital quarantine, 340 more in hospital isolation and about 12,000 under home surveillance.

About the latest Covid-19 death in the territory, officials said the septuagenarian patient from Qazipora village of Tangmarg area in Baramulla district died at Srinagar’s SKIMS Bemina hospital. They said the victim had tested positive for the virus earlier this month.

“He was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, hypertension and had other co-morbidities,” said Dr. Shafa A Deva, medical superintendent of the hospital.