69 more Covid deaths, 2,963 new cases in Punjab

Chandigarh, March 28

The COVID-19 death toll in Punjab rose to 6,690 on Sunday with 69 more fatalities, while 2,963 fresh cases took the infection tally to 2,31,734, a medical bulletin issued here said.

The number of active cases increased to 23,917 on Sunday from 23,271 the previous day, it said.

Of the new cases, Jalandhar reported the maximum 489 cases, followed by 437 in Ludhiana, 372 in Amritsar, 307 in Patiala, 291 in Mohali and 289 in Hoshiarpur, it said.

Of the new deaths, Ludhiana recorded 10 fatalities, followed by Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur with eight fatalities each, the bulletin said.

A total of 2,155 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from infection, taking the overall recoveries to 2,01,127, as per bulletin.

A total of 36 critical patients are on ventilator support and 316 are on oxygen support, it said.

A total of 58,48,083 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, the bulletin said. 

Punjab Health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Sunday said COVID-19 vaccine will be administered at all health and wellness centres, sub centres, homeopathy and ayurvedic dispensaries.

He further said the vaccine will also be made available for everybody above the age of 45 years without any condition at all government health centres from April 1.

In a statement, Sidhu said nearly 7 lakh people in the state have been vaccinated so far.

He further said vaccination is being carried out in government health facilities on all the seven days of the week.

Chandigarh reported 296 cases, the highest single-day spike this year, taking the total infection count to 26,194, a bulletin issued here said.

On Saturday, the union territory had recorded 294 new cases.

The death of three more persons took the toll to 377, according to the medical bulletin.

The number of active cases rose from to 2,633 on Sunday from 2,532 the previous day.

A total of 192 patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the number of cured people to 23,184, the bulletin said.

A total of 3,06,217 samples have been taken for testing so far and of them, 2,79,003 have tested negative while reports of 201 samples were awaited, it added. PTI