Four more COVID-related fatalities pushed the death toll due to the disease to 105 in Ladakh, while the virus caseload crossed the 8,000-mark in the Union Territory after 83 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a civil society-sponsored weeklong lockdown in Leh entered the third day with all shops and business establishments except pharmacies remaining closed and transport off the roads. All the four new COVID-related deaths were reported from Leh, taking the death toll due to the disease in the district to 64, the officials said. Kargil district accounts for the remaining 41 COVID-related deaths in the Union Territory. According to the officials, 82 people tested positive for the infectious disease in Leh and one more in Kargil, pushing the case tally in the Union Territory to 8,028. Of these, 7,069 patients have recovered from the disease, including 84 discharged from hospitals in both Leh and Kargil in the last 24 hours. The number of active COVID-19 cases in Ladakh has now dropped to 854 — 758 in Leh and 96 in Kargil, the officials said. Normal life in Leh town and adjoining areas remained disrupted for the third day following the civil society-sponsored weeklong lockdown to contain the spread of the virus. Leh district has been witnessing a spike in the number of cases for the last four weeks. The main markets in the town wore a deserted look as locals preferred to stay indoors in response to the self-imposed lockdown, the officials said.
