18 new COVID-19 cases in J&K, 9 from tertiary care hospitals; total nears 800

Jammu and Kashmir reported 18 new novel coronavirus cases on Thursday, out of which nine were from three tertiary care hospitals in Srinagar, ringing alarm bells in the health community of the Union territory.

The total number of cases rose to 793, out of which 68 people are afflicted with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Jammu region and 725 in the Kashmir Valley, the officials said.

"Eighteen positive cases have been detected in the last 24 hours," the officials said.

Among the new cases detected in Kashmir, nine are related to three tertiary care hospitals of the Valley, in a major setback to the efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Out of 719 samples tested at Chest Diseases Hospital, nine are positive," said Salim Khan, the nodal officer of COVID-19 at the Government Medical College, Srinagar.

Khan told PTI that all these nine samples were related to three tertiary care hospitals in Srinagar.

"Out of the nine, six samples were taken from patients