Punjab on Wednesday reported eight more coronavirus fatalities while 288 fresh cases were registred from 20 (out of 22) districts, pushing the state’s COVID-19 tally to 8,799 and deatjh toll to 221.
Of the total, three deaths each were reported in Amritsar and Jalandhar while one each took place in Ludhiana and Pathankot.
Jalandhar, one of the worst-hit districts, reported the maximum 92 cases on Wednesday, followed by 61 in Ludhiana, 26 in Patiala, 22 in Amritsar, 21 in Ferozepur, 13 in Mohali, nine in SBS Nagar, seven in Pathankot, six each in Faridkot and Muktsar, five each in Fatehgarh Sahib and Sangrur, three each in Hoshiarpur and Bathinda, two each in Rupnagar, Tarn Taran and Barnala, and one each in Fazilka, Moga and Gurdaspur.
Among the total, 127 cases have the contact history, while 19 have the travel history — including four foreign returnees and 15 recently returned from other states.
Nearly half of the cases reported on Wednesday (49.31 percent) are categirised as “new” cases, that is with no travel or contact history. Among them are 10 cops — four from Ludhiana, two from Ferozepur, and one each from Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Moga and Tarn Taran; six Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in Ferozepur, 20 with Influenza-like Illness (ILI), 12 from the out-pateint department (OPD), five healthcare workers, two from hiospital staff, among others.
As many as 204 coronavirus patients — 123 from Ludhiana, 40 from Amritsar.
40, one from Sangrur, three from Mohali, 12 from Gurdaspur, six from Pathankot, four each from Kapurthala and Fazilka, three from Muktsar, two each from Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, and Fatehgarh Sahib, and one each from Barnala and Mansa — were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
With this, the total number of recoveries has reached 5,867. The State now has 2,711 active cases, of which 46 patients are on oxygen support, and nine are critical and on ventilator support.