Punjab on Sunday registered the steepest single-day spike of 1,946 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the state’s Covid-19 tally to 63,473. The state had earlier registered the highest number of coronavirus cases on August 27, with 1,746 testing positive for the contagion in a single day.
Besides, 54 four more deaths due to Covid-19 has pushed the state’s death toll to 1,862. Maximum 13 deaths were reported from Ludhiana, followed by eight from Patiala; six from Kapurthala; five from Amritsar; three each from Faridkot, Moga, Jalandhar, and Bathinda; two each from Pathankot, Muktsar, and Hoshiarpur; and one each from Barnala, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran.
Punjab has been witnessing a surge in the number of coronavirus cases and adding over 1,000 coronavirus cases every day for a few days.
In the first week of September alone, Punjab, on an average, has recorded 1,580 cases with 68 people succumbing to the deadly contagion every day. In fact, the state has recorded highest 106 deaths on September 3.
Among the districts, Jalandhar reported the maximum of 261 infections, followed by 205 from Pathankot, Gurdaspur (186), Bathinda (168), Ludhiana (161), Mohali (154), Patiala (150), Hoshiarpur (135), Amritsar (133), Faridkot (88), Kapurthala (72), Muktsar (40), Sangrur (40), Mansa (28), Moga (26), Ferozepur (21), SBS Nagar (19), Tarn Taran (17), Fazilka (15), Barnala (10), Fatehgarh Sahib (10), and Ropar (7).
As many 38 prisoners — 26 from Bathinda and 12 from Muktsar; eight Police personnel — three from Amritsar, two each from Kapurthala and Tarn Taran, and one from Faridkot; 12 healthcare workers — six from Ludhiana, two each from Amritsar, Kapurthala, and Tarn Taran; and nine frontline workers — three from Pathankot, and two each from Sangrur, Bathinda, and Gurdaspur — are among the fresh cases reported across the state in the past 24 hours.
A total of 1,606 coronavirus patients — including 241 from Mohali, 232 from Ludhiana, 207 from Jalandhar, 153 from Gurdaspur, 124 from Amritsar, among others — were discharged after recovering from infection, taking the total number of recoveries to 45,455. The state still has 16,156 active cases, of which 71 are critical and on ventilator support while 571 are on oxygen support.
TWO MEMBER CENTRAL TEAM TO ASSIST PUNJAB TACKLE COVID-19
With Punjab witnessing a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases and recording high mortalities almost over a month now, the Union Health Ministry on Sunday decided to rush a central team to assist the State in strengthening public health measures for containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of COVID-19 patients with an aim to reduce the mortality rate.
The decision was taken as the state’s COVID-19 tally has reached 63,473, with 1,862 casualties — witnessing, on an average, 1,407 cases and 44 deaths every day since August 6. The two-member team, which would be stationed in the state for a period of 10 days “to assist the state Health Department for review of public health measures for COVID-19, comprise a community medicine expert Dr (Prof) JS Thakur from Post-Graduate Institute of Medical education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, and an epidemiologist Dr Akshay Kumar (deputy director) from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“The Centre is monitoring the situation in all the states, and also deputing its teams of experts to assist the states in managing the scenario. Past week, the Health Ministry had deputed central teams to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. Now, as Punjab is witnessing a surge since, almost a month, the Centre’s expert team would visit the state,” a senior government official told The Pioneer.
The official said that the team would interact with the field authorities to get a first-hand understanding of the challenges, problems, and issues being faced by them. They will guide in effectively addressing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up.
“The team members will visit districts reporting high number of cases, including containment zones and health facilities therein, like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, Mohali, and others, to review the containment and surveillance, infection prevention and control practices, testing and status of health facilities for COVID-19,” said the official.
As per the information received by the state, the teams will submit a daily report of activities undertaken to respective District Commissioner with a copy marked to Union Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary (Public Health). “Before concluding their visit, the teams will meet Secretary (Health) to de-brief and submit a report of their observations and suggestions with copy to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and bring to the notice of the State or UT Health Department and Union Ministry any issue of urgent importance,” read the Centre’s official communication in this regard.
The Testing Per Million (TPM) figure for Punjab is 37,546, against India’s average figure of 34,593.1 at present. With 4.97 percent, it hovers at the lower spectrum of cumulative positivity.
Days before, Punjab, along with other state’s witnessing the surge, have been advised to proactively undertake comprehensive measures to break the chain of transmission of the infectious disease and lower mortality, such that it eventually dips below one percent.