Punjab surpassed the 2000-mark on Tuesday with its three districts reporting a total of 22 cases, with majority 19 from Ludhiana alone, including 10 from the Borstal jail.
As the state’s tally reached 2002, its death toll has reached 38 after a 34-year-old man suffering from coronavirus died in Pathankot. The health official said that the patient, who was also suffering from tuberculosis, was a resident of Mamoon in Pathankot district and died in a hospital at Amritsar.
Of the 22 fresh cases, Ludhiana reported a massive spike with 19 cases, while two cases were reported from Patiala and one from Gurdaspur. Both of Patiala’s new cases were people who recently came back from Mumbai, while one pilgrim tested positive in Gurdaspur
As per the media bulletin, eight jail inmates and two ward attendants of Borstal jail — which has been set up as a special quarantine jail, four cases from those reported at Flu Corner, two are the contacts of positive case of Railway Police Force (RPF) jawaans, another of contact of a positive patient, and one of a traveler who has recently returned from Uttar Pradesh.
Of the 10 cases reported from Borstal Jail, two of them were arrested in sexual offence cases. “Two men, facing rape charges, have tested positive for coronavirus,” said the police, adding that the duo, aged 27 and 25 years, were arrested in two separate cases of rape registered at Haibowal Police Station and Civil Lines Police Station respectively.
The authorities have quarantined a police sub-inspector, two assistant sub inspectors and five constables, who came in contact with the accused, for 14 days.
Notably, the State Government has established four special jails in the State to quarantine those arrested in fresh cases to avoid spread of infection from new inmates to those already lodged in the jail.
For the same, the Prisons Department has established a special quarantine jail in Ludhiana’s Borstal Jail, while shifting around 200 old inmates to Faridkot Jail.
According to the health bulletin, as many as 95 coronavirus patients were discharged from different hospitals including at Fazilka, Pathankot, Sangrur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran after they recovered from the infection, taking the total count of cured patients to 1,642 in the state, at a recovery rate of 82 percent.
Now, the total number of active cases in the State is 322.
Amritsar continued to lead the Covid-19 tally in the State with 307 coronavirus cases, followed by 209 in Jalandhar, 155 in Tarn Taran, 169 in Ludhiana, 124 in Gurdaspur, 105 in SBS Nagar, 103 in Patiala, 102 in Mohali, 95 in Hoshiarpur, 88 in Sangrur, 65 in Muktsar, 61 in Faridkot, 60 in Rupnagar, 59 in Moga, 56 in Fatehgarh Sahib, , 44 each in Fazilka and Ferozepur, 41 in Bathinda, 32 in Mansa, 33 in Kapurthala, 29 in Pathankot, and 21 in Barnala, as per the bulletin.
Of total number of patients, 38 have died while one person is critical and on ventilator support, the health department''s document said.
A total of 55,634 samples have been taken for Covid-19 testing so far in the state of which 50,070 samples tested negative and results of 3,562 are still awaited.
As per reports, a 28-year-old man, who was found dead at his residence on May 16, has now been tested positive for coronavirus after death.
“According to the family members, he was a drug addict. His body was sent for the autopsy to know cause of his death. He has now tested positive for the coronavirus,” said an official.