Continuing with the trend now for more than a fortnight, Punjab once again registered 1000-plus fresh cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday pushing the state’s Covid-19 tally closer to 40,000-mark while the death toll is just short of the 1000-figure.
A total of 1,513 fresh Covid-19 positive cases and 34 deaths were reported from the state’s all 22 districts, taking the Punjab’s tally to 39,327 and death toll to 991.
Ludhiana, with 242, reported the highest number of infections, followed by Patiala with 201, Jalandhar (169), SAS Nagar (143), Sangrur (102), Bathinda (90), Amritsar (80), Kapurthala (70), Ferozepur (69), Gurdaspur (49), Moga (43), 39 each in Barnala and Fatehgarh Sahib, Muktsar (27), Pathankot (26), SBS Nagar (25), Ropar (20), Faridkot (19), Fazilka (18), Mansa (16), Hoshiarpur (15), and Tarn Taran (11).
The state’s mortality rate has gone up to 2.52 percent with 34 more deaths reported in the past 24 hours — including eight from Ludhiana, five from Patiala, four from Kapurthala, three from Amritsar, two from Moga and one each from Barnala, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Mansa and SAS Nagar (Mohali).
Six Punjab police personnel, including Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jaspreet Singh Sidhu, has been tested positive for the coronavirus. In all three cops from Kapurthala, and one each from Mohali, Sangrur, Ferozepur have been infected by the contagion.
Meanwhile, 856 more patients — including 218 from Patiala, 142 from Kapurthala, 115 from Bathinda, 97 from Jalandhar, 44 from Amritsar, 19 each from Sangrur and Fatehgarh Sahib, Pathankot (41), 48 each from Tarn Taran and Moga, Muktsar, Mansa and SBS Nagar (12), Ferozepur (3), Fazilka (4), (142), and Muktsar (11) and Barnala (35) — were cured and discharged on Friday.
With this the total number of recoveries has gone up to 23,893 at the rate of 60.75 percent, with the state still having 14,443 active cases — accounting for 36.72 percent of the total positive cases. Among these, 418 patients are on oxygen support, while 42 are critical and on ventilator support.
Of the 39,327 cases, the maximum number of cases have been reported from Ludhiana (8,580) while Jalandhar recorded (5,011), Amritsar (3,120), Sangrur (1,819), Patiala (4,531), SAS Nager (2,414), Gurdaspur (1,332), Pathankot (835), Tarn Taran (620), Hoshiarpur (961), SBS Nagar (543), Ferozepur (1,412), Faridkot (763), Muktsar (553), Fatehgarh Sahib (839), Moga (1,089), Bathinda (1,679), Kapurthala (748), Ropar (624), Fazilka (623), Barnala (871) and Mansa (360).
Of the total deaths, Ludhiana has reported 289, Jalandhar (117), Amritsar (121), Sangrur (64), Patiala (103), SAS Nager (44), Gurdaspur (32), Pathankot (18), Tarn Taran (27), Hoshiarpur (27), SBS Nagar (14), Ferozepur (19), Faridkot (5), Muktsar (5), Fatehgarh Sahib (16), Moga (12), Bathinda (4), Kapurthala (30), Ropar (9), Fazilka (5), Barnala (15) and Mansa (3).