Punjab on Thursday reported one more COVID-19-related death taking the tally to 20, besides 105 cases, according to an official statement.
The number of the positive cases has reached 480, with most of the new cases being pilgrims who had recently returned from Nanded, where they had gone to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Hazur Sahib.
The patient who died was from Jalandhar and tested positive after the death. The Health department said 34 cases were reported from Ludhiana, 28 from Amritsar, 13 from SAS Nagar, seven from Tarn Taran, six from Kapurthala, three each from Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Muktsar, two each from Ropar and Sangrur districts. Once each case has been reported from Moga, SBS Nagar, Patiala and Ferozepur, it said.
The active cases at present are 356 while 104 patients have so far been cured, it said.
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In response to the Centre’s advisory on the stranded migrants and others, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh directed all Deputy Commissioners to prepare State-wise data to coordinate their movement, even as he urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange for point-to-point special trains.
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The Chief Minister said he had written to the Prime Minister on the transportation. He pointed out that Ludhiana alone had over 7 lakh migrant labourers with whole of Punjab having over a million of them. Though data was still being collated, approximately 70% of them hailed from Bihar, he said. The movement of such large numbers was possible only through trains, with proper screening to be done at the time of departure.