Punjab on Thursday registered a record 1,049 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus — the biggest spike recorded in the state in a single day, besides 26 more deaths, pushing the state’s infection tally to 20,891 and the casualty count to 517.
Five out of all 22 districts — Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, and Mohali — reported fresh cases in three-digit figure on Thursday. Of the total, eight districts reported casualties with half registered in Ludhiana (13), followed by seven in Jalandhar, and one each from Amritsar, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Patiala, Sangrur and Tarn Taran.
Maximum 190 fresh infections were reported from Ludhiana, followed by 150 from Bathinda, 136 from Patiala, 114 from Jalandhar, 104 from SAS Nagar (Mohali), 60 from Amritsar, 54 from Gurdaspur, 46 from Moga, 33 each from Ferozepur and Barnala, 22 from Faridkot, 17 from Fatehgarh Sahib, 15 from Muktsar, 14 each from Sangrur and Tarn Taran, 11 each from Hoshiarpur and Pathankot, seven from Fazilka, six each from Mansa and Kapurthala and three new cases each from SBS Nagar and Ropar districts.
The fresh cases include 16 cops — including nine from Ludhiana, two each from Sangrur and Muktsar, and one each from Tarn Taran, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Barnala. Besides, seven healthcare workers, four jail inmates from Bathinda, two prisoners — one each from Sangrur and Ferozepur, two frontline workers from Tarn Taran, and 26 cases with travel history to other states or countries, are among the fresh cases.
As many 716 patients — Ludhiana-361, Amritsar-85, Patiala-107, Sangrur-31, SAS Nagar-16, Gurdaspur-41, Ferozepur-5, Pathankot-8, Fatehgarh Sahib-23, Moga-12, Fazilka-1, Muktsar-9, Barnala12, Mansa-5 — were discharged on Thursday after recovering from the contagion in the past 24 hours.
With this, the total recoveries have reached 13,659, at the recovery rate of 65.38 percent. The state now has 6,715 active cases, accounting for 32.14 percent of the total positive cases, of which 150 patients on oxygen support, and 26 are critical and on ventilator support.