Daily Covid cases in Punjab surpass past peak

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 6

Punjab, which was among the eight states that were accounting for 81.9 per cent of the total caseload in the country, has surpassed the number of daily cases recorded during the last peak in September 2020.

However, the total monthly infections, positivity rate, deaths and case fatality rate was still low as the sampling and testing touched a new high in the state last month.

A comparative Covid data for September 2020 and March 2021 compiled by the Health and Family Welfare Department, a copy of which is with The Tribune, revealed that the state reported highest-ever single-day spike of 3,176 cases on March 26 than the previous highest count of 2,896 on September 17 last year.

However, the saving grace was the fact that the total number of positive casesin March remained 57,653 as compared to 60,352 in last September.

Similarly, the monthly positivity rate of 7.8 per cent in last September came down to 6 per cent in March, average number of infections daily reduced from 2,012 to 1,922, while deaths almost halved from 1,953 to 1,036, and the case fatality rate from 3.2 per cent to 1.8 per cent.

This was despite the fact that the state tested a record-high of 9,60,062 samples in March as compared to 7,69,407 in September, with an average sample testing per day going up from 25,647 to 32,002. Also, the maximum number of daily sample testing increased from 33,226 to 42,982.

According to the monthly comparative data, the active cases in the state reached 25,458 on April 2, which was almost four times of 6,661 registered on March 5. The positivity rate shot up from 2.9 per cent on March 5 to 4.1 per cent on April 2, the weekly infections rose from 5,212 between February 27 and March 5 to 19,449 between March 27 and April 2, and the deaths increased from 84 between February 27 and March 5 to 407 between March 27 and April 2.

While 16,496 patients were discharged after being cured within a week from March 27 to April 2 as compared to 2,294 between February 27 and March 5, the weekly count of samples tested ramped up from 1,80,590 between February 27 and March 5 to 2,47,256 between March 27 and April 2.

Highest Single-day spike in 6 months

3,176 daily cases on March 26, 2021

2,896 daily cases on Sept 17, 2020

62 more succumb to virus; High mortality rate in Doaba region

• The Doaba region continued to report high mortality for Covid-19, with Hoshiarpur reporting seven deaths, followed by Jalandhar (6), Kapurthala (5) and Nawanshahr (3) on Tuesday
• As many as 62 persons succumbed to the contagion in 24 hours in the state, with the highest deaths being reported in Amritsar at nine. Gurdaspur, Ludhiana and Mohali reported five deaths each
• Over 2,900 persons have been infected in the past 24 hours. Highest cases were reported in Mohali (521), Ludhiana (401) and Jalandhar (307). As many as 42 persons, who contracted the infection, continue to be in ICU.
• The good news is 2,350 persons have recovered from the infection. As many as 92,346 persons received vaccination in the past 24 hours