With 30% jump, Punjab records over 4000 Covid cases for first time

The highest single-day case count during the first wave was 2,896 cases reported on September 17 last year.

Punjab’s daily Covid-19 cases Thursday surged to a record high of 4,333, registering a 30 per cent jump over the figure a day ago and nearly 25 per cent over the the previous biggest single-day jump of 3,477 recorded on April 12.

The state’s cumulative tally now stands at 2,86,816 even as death toll climbed to 7,722 with 51 more people succumbing to the disease. The number of active cases increased to 30,033 from 28,250 on Wednesday. There are 40 critical patients who are on ventilator support while 374 are on oxygen support.

It is the first time since the pandemic outbreak last year that the daily case count breached 4,000-mark in Punjab. It is during the second wave that hit Punjab in February last week that the daily case count has touched new peaks. The daily case count had first breached the 3,000-mark on March 26 when 3,176 fresh cases were reported. Earlier, 3,459 new cases a day were recorded on April 9 followed by 3,477 cases on April 12.

The highest single-day case count during the first wave was 2,896 cases reported on September 17 last year.

Mohali reported the highest number of fresh cases at 860, followed by 482 in Ludhiana, 399 in Jalandhar, 365 in Amritsar, 353 in Patiala and 301 in Bathinda.

Of the latest fatalities, 10 were reported from Amritsar, nine from Hoshiarpur and six each from Gurdaspur and Ludhiana.

A total of 2,478 coronavirus patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the total number of cured persons to 2,49,061. So far, 64,73,869 samples have been collected for testing in the state.

Meanwhile, Punjab has administered a total of 21.68 lakh doses of vaccine till Thursday.

Covid test report in 24 hours

Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan Thursday directed the Medical Education and Research Department to ensure that the Covid test results reach the concerned person within 24 hours. She also urged the eligible persons to come forward for a jab as vaccine can prevent severity of the virus.

Reviewing the Covid situation with the administrative secretaries, Deputy Commissioners, Commissioners of Police and SSPs, Mahajan asked the concerned departments to provide a food kit along with Corona Fateh kit to the home isolated patients who are needy.

Fixing the daily target of Covid testing to 50,000, Mahajan said the RAT testing should be ensured to all contacts immediately. “DCs can use staff from any department for Covid management at district-level and services of the BLOs can be used for vaccination planning,” she instructed.

She emphasised that the strict monitoring of home isolated patients should be ensured to keep the case fatality rate (CFR) under check. She also directed the officials to ensure strict compliance of curbs and restrictions to save precious human lives from the virus.

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