32 succumb to virus as Punjab logs highest single-day death toll

CHANDIGARH: In the sharpest-ever single-day spike, Punjab reported 32 deaths, driving up the total count of Covid- 19 deaths in the state to 636 on Tuesday. Prior to this, 29 deaths were reported in a day on August 5.

Punjab has highest Covid fatality rate of 2.45% among the neighbouring states, followed by 1.88% in Jammu and Kashmir, 1.68% Chandigarh, 1.16% Haryana, 0.54% Ladakh and 0.42% Himachal Pradesh.

Chief minister Capt Amarinder

Singh on Tuesday blamed the Punjabi attitude of ‘koi gal nahin’ for the higher-than-Haryana mortality rate in Punjab. He said the state had seen cases go up from 500 to 1,000 in two weeks, with the positivity rate of the last five days at 8.73%.

As per the health bulletin released by the state government, 11 fatalities were reported in Ludhiana, four in Sangrur, three each in Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar and Mohali and one each in Gurdaspur, Bathinda, Kapurthala, Muktsar and Tarn Taran. As many as 1,002 fresh cases were reported in state.

250 PEOPLE HAVE DIED DUE TO VIRUS IN STATE IN 11 DAYS; 1,002 TEST POSITIVE IN A DAY

Among districts which reported new cases are Ludhiana (252), Patiala (118), Amritsar (118), Mohali (83), Hoshiarpur (77), Pathankot (64), Jalandhar (54) and Bathinda (38).

Moga MLA Harjot Kamal also contracted the infection on Tuesday.

Civil surgeon Dr Amarpreet Kaur Bajwa said he is asymptomatic. The MLA visited the civil hospital on Tuesday afternoon and came in contact with a number of people, including health officials.

A total of 1,055 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection. So far, 16,790 people have been cured of the infection.

There are 8,463 active Covid-19 cases in the state, the bulletin said.