Punjab on Friday recorded another steepest hike of 2,526 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus in a single day, pushing the State’s Covid-19 tally closer to 75,000. The state’s infection tally now stands at 74616, against a total of 2,212 deaths, including 63 casualties reported on Friday.
This is for the fourth time in a week that Punjab has recorded more than 2,000 cases in a single day. In fact, till now, as many as 20,723 cases and 760 fatalities have been registred in September — that is recording 1,884 fresh cases and 69 deaths, on an average, every day.
Out of total 22, Punjab’s 15 districts reported casualties in the past 24 hours. Maximum 12 deaths were reported from Ludhiana, followed by eight from Jalandhar; seven each from Bathinda and Patiala; five from Hoshiarpur, four each from Sangrur and Tarn Taran; three each from Pathankot, Muktsar, Gurdaspur, and Amritsar; one each from SAS Nagar (Mohali), Faridkot, Ferozepur, and Moga.
Six districts of the state — Ludhiana (558), Jalandhar (238), Amritsar (231), Patiala (229), Mohali (133), and Sangrur (109) — have the number of fatalities in three digits, accounting for 1498 deaths together which is 67.72 per cent of the total casualties in the State.
Maximum 326 cases were reported from Jalandhar, taking the district’s tally closer to 10,000-mark. The district now has a total of 9,114 cases, of which 3,244 are active.
Besides, Patiala reported 315 fresh cases, followed by 262 from SAS Nagar (Mohali), 237 in Gurdaspur, 186 in Ludhiana, 181 in Amritsar, 166 in Kapurthala, 161 in Hoshiarpur, 116 in Bathinda, 72 in Ferozepur, 64 in Sangrur, 61 each from Pathankot and Mansa, 58 from Faridkot, 50 from Fazilka, 37 from Moga, 28 each from Ropar and Barnala, 25 from Fatehgarh Sahib, 17 from Tarn Taran, and 16 from SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr).
As many as 19 frontline workers — seven from SAS Nagar (Mohali), five from Kapurthala, three from Faridkot, two each from Sangrur and Pathankot; 18 healthcare workers — 10 from Ludhiana, seven from Faridkot, and one from Bathinda — have been afflicted with the deadly contagion on the past 24 hours. Besides, Six police personnel — four from Tarn Taran, and one each from Gurdaspur and Muktsar; and eight prisoners — seven from Muktsar and one from Moga — were also tested positive for the virus.
A total of 1402 patients—including 289 from Patiala, 190 from Ludhiana, 182 from Mohali, 151 from Amritsar, 95 from Hoshiarpur — were discharged after recovering from the contagion, taking the total number of recoveries to 53,308.
The state still has 19,096 active cases, of which 529 patients are on oxygen support, and 79 are critical and on ventilator support.