Char Dham shrines welcome pilgrims; 8 army personnel tests positive for COVID-19 in Uttarakhand

Dehradun, July 02: With as many as 66 new coronavirus cases reported in the state on Wednesday, the COVID-19 tally in Uttarakhand has now increased to 2,947. According to reports, the recovery rate has also crossed 78 per cent with 86 fresh recoveries reported on Wednesday.

The fresh cases were reported from Almora (5), Haridwar (2), Champawat (2), Dehradun (20), Nainital (22), Tehri Garhwal (4), Udham Singh Nagar (2) and Uttarkashi (9).

Of the 66 patients, one case was a healthcare worker from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), eight cases were of army personnel with travel history to West Bengal, Jabalpur, Chennai, Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Nine were those with no travel history, 18 cases were of people who were found as contacts of earlier detected coronavirus positive patients.

On Wednesday, a total of 86 patients were discharged from hospitals in the state. The rate of doubling of cases based on the last seven days stands at 46.72 days in the state with a recovery rate of 78.62 per cent.

According to the official data, Uttarakhand has so far tested more than 70,000 samples of which results of over 5,100 are awaited.

There are as many as 93 containment zones in the state. Meanwhile, as Char Dham shrines opened for pilgrims from Uttarakhand on Wednesday, 422 online registrations were made on the first day.

Pilgrims can now register themselves on the website www.badrinath-kedarnath.gov.in for obtaining the e-pass for visiting the shrines. For Kedarnath shrine, 165 bookings were made - 154 for Badrinath, 55 for Gangotri and 48 for Yamunotri.