State logs 60 deaths, 1,273 Covid cases

CHANDIGARH: Punjab on Tuesday registered 1,273 new Covid cases, taking the infection tally to 5,82,081, while 60 more deaths took the toll to 15,219, according to a medical bulletin.

The state’s active cases stood at 18,546 as against 19,995 on Monday, it said.

Seven deaths were reported Jalandhar followed by six each in Amritsar and Ludhiana, five each in Bathinda and Mohali and three each in Gurdaspur and Sangrur.

Hoshiarpur reported 118 new cases, followed by 115 in Ludhiana, 113 in Mohali, 102 in Amritsar and 96 in Bathinda, the bulletin said. The state’s positivity rate stood at 2.47% as against 2.57% on Monday.

With 2,642 recoveries from the infection, the number of cured people reached 5,48,316, according to the bulletin.

There are 247 critical patients who are on ventilator support, and 3,094 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said.

A total of 97,62,160 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it said.

CM for research facility to combat pandemics Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday mooted a research facility, under the guidance of national and global healthcare experts, for combating Covid-like pandemics and other serious diseases.

The chief minister, while chairing a virtual meeting of the state’s healthcare experts’ group for Covid management, extended his government’s continued support to the medical fraternity in battling this unprecedented crisis till Covid-19 is completely eliminated.

Urging people not to be their own doctors but to seek the advice of the medical fraternity at the first signs of the infection, the CM said his government was distributing food packets and Fateh Kits to wean the people away from hesitancy in going for treatment.

The video conference was joined by more than 250 health experts from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, besides four foreign doctors.

Amarinder said Punjab will soon win the fight and succeed in pushing the disease back. The state, he said, was gearing up for a possible third wave and, despite the decline in cases, was not letting down its guard.