Chandigarh Covid-19 count climbs to 218, only 37 active

12 fresh cases in Bapu Dham, even as city sees 124 recoveries in 3 days

CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh reported 13 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the tally of confirmed cases to 218.

However, 39 patients were discharged from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and the ayurvedic college in Sector 46. With 124 people being discharged in three days, the total number has reached 178, and the recovery rate has shot up to 81%. Also, only 37 active cases remain in the city, with three fatalities so far.

Among the fresh cases, one case has been reported from Sector 30 while the remaining are from the congested Bapu Dham Colony containment zone in Sector 26. Of the 12 positive cases in the colony, nine are members of two households on different floors of one building, while two are from another house and one from elsewhere in the locality.

As many as 146 persons have been infected in the colony, which accounts for 67% cases in the city.

In Sector 30, a woman who was attending to her three-year-old Covid-infected daughter at the PGIMER has been found to be positive. Meanwhile, contacts of another patient from Dhanas, who had tested positive on May 19 after returning from Delhi, have tested negative.

115 DISCHARGED UNDER NEW POLICY, RECOVERY RATE SHOOTS UP TO 81%

The revised policy allows for discharging asymptomatic patients

from Covid-19 hospital without testing. Earlier the patients were only discharged after two consecutive tests turned negative in 24 hours.

Out of the 124 persons discharged since May 19, only nine were tested as per the previous central government discharge policy. The remaining have been discharged without any testing and sent to post-discharge Covid-19 centre established at Sood Dharamshala, Sector 22, shooting up the recovery rate

On May 18, the recovery rate in the city was 27%, an 11 percentage points below the national average of 38%. While the national average on May 21 stood at 40.32%, the city’s recovery rate increased to 81% as the new policy set in.

Significantly, in the daily review meeting on Thursday, UT administrator VPS Badnore expressed satisfaction about “substantial improvement in recovery rate and doubling rate”.

The PGIMER had earlier decided to stick to the old discharge policy until the UT administrator advised the institute to enforce the new policy.