Punjab’s Covid-19 tally on Friday breached 60,000 mark, and the death toll has crossed 1700 figure with the state reporting 1498 fresh cases and 49 deaths in a span of 24 hours. With this, the state’s infection tally has reached 60,013, and the death toll stood at 1,739.
The 49 casualties were reported from 16 of the 22 districts of the state with Ludhiana reporting the highest 14 deaths, followed by six in SAS Nagar (Mohali); five in Amritsar; four in Jalandhar; three each in Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, and Hoshiarpur; two each in Gurdaspur and Ropar; and one each in Bathinda, Faridkot, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Moga, Sangrur and Tarn Taran.
Jalandhar district reported the maximum number of fresh cases with 210; followed by 184 each in Ludhiana and Patiala; 138 in SAS Nagar (Mohali); 108 in Gurdaspur; 101 in Bathinda; 92 in Amritsar; 71 in Faridkot; 58 each in Hoshiarpur and Moga; 57 in Ferozepur; 43 in Kapurthala; 36 each in Sangrur and Muktsar; 34 in Fazilka; 21 in Barnala; 20 in Mansa; 13 in Pathankot; 12 in Fatehgarh Sahib; 10 in SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr); seven in Tarn Taran; and five in Ropar.
About 20 woman jail inmates were tested COVID-19 positive at Patiala Central Jail, besides a male inmate and two jail staff members. The results of the samples, collected in random testing from the female ward, turned out to be positive, following which the inmates who tested positive have been isolated in jail premises.
Besides, 22 healthcare workers — 19 from Ludhiana and three from Tarn Taran; three police personnel — two from Nawanshahr and one from Ludhiana; 15 frontline workers — six from Faridkot., five from Bathinda, and four from Mohali; and six factory workers from Sangrur have been tested.
A total of 1272 new patients — including 245 in Ludhiana, 218 in Gurdaspur, 195 in Patiala, 100 in Bathinda, 97 in Jalandhar-97, among others — were discharged after recovering from the deadly contagion in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 42,543 (70.89 percent).