There was no let-up in the Covid-19 surge in Chandigarh as the Union Territory on Friday broke all previous records of the biggest single-day spike with 828 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic first began in March, last year. These numbers of Covid-19 cases in the city took its cumulative infection tally to 37,232.
Three more fatalities due to the viral disease were reported in the city in a span of 24 hours, pushing its overall death toll to 430, according to a health department bulletin.
The union territory now has 4,622 active cases—a 154 per cent rise since the beginning of the month. For comparison, Chandigarh reported an exponential 765 per cent rise in active cases in March.
The rising cases led the Chandigarh administration to impose restrictions on movement—first a night curfew and then a weekend lockdown. The latter, which was announced last Friday, was called off earlier in the day.
The total number of samples tested in the last 24 hours was 4062 while the overall number of tests conducted was 378,454. While cases were reported from all sectors, Manimajra reported 86 new cases, Mauli Jagran had 23 cases. As many as 476 people were discharged from various facilities of the city, taking the total number of cured persons to 32,180, it stated.
Over the last five days during the ongoing second wave of the pandemic, the city has been witnessing over 600 covid-19 cases. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Chandigarh witnessed 625, 612, 602, 622, 634 covid-19 cases respectively.
During the first wave of covid-19, the highest single-day spike was reported on September 13, last year with 449 cases.
City hospitals are bearing the brunt of sporadic increase in cases as Covid bed occupancy has reached its maximum capacity.