Eighteen more succumbed to the deadly contagion in Punjab on Monday as the State reported 677 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its Covid-19 tally to 18,527, and death toll to 442.
The hotspot Ludhiana continued to report soaring number of cases and deaths. Of the 19 deaths, maximum eight were reported from Ludhiana, three from Bathinda, two from Amritsar, and one each from SAS Nagar (Mohali), SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr), Barnala, Sangrur, Jalandhar and Patiala.
With whopping 186 cases reported from Ludhiana in the past 24 hours, the district’s Covid-19 tally has reached 3,714 (20 per cent of state’s total cases) and death toll at 115 (26 percent of state’s total deaths) — highest among all districts.
Besides Ludhiana, Bathinda reported 118 fresh infections, followed by 115 from Jalandhar, 51 from Ferozepur, 34 each from Patiala and Gurdaspur, 29 from Amritsar, 22 in Moga, 20 in Barnala, 14 in Fazilka, 13 in Pathankot, 11 in Mohali, nine each from Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, eight from Sangrur, three from Faridkot, and one from Fatehgarh Sahib.
The fresh positive cases include 13 cops — including 11 from Ludhiana and two officials from Gurdaspur, six healthcare workers, two prisoners—one each from Gurdaspur and Barnala, one frontline worker, among others.
As many as 416 patients — including 144 from Ludhiana followed by Amritsar (91), Patiala (43), Gurdaspur (26), Fatehgarh Sahib (23), SAS Nagar (18), Hoshiarpur (16), nine each from Moga, Muktsar and Barnala, Fazilka (8) and Pathankot (6) — were discharged on Monday, taking the total recoveries to 11,882, with 6,203 active cases.