Unlock 1.0: Punjab gets 53 deaths, 1,689 cases

CHANDIGARH: Punjab has witnessed a massive surge in Covid-19 cases in the first 20 days of Unlock 1.0 in June as the state recorded 1,689 positive cases and 53 deaths.
As the total number of positive cases reached 3,952 on Saturday from 2,263 on May 31, the total number of deaths also increased from 45 to 98 in the last 20 days. The case fatality rate has increased from 2% to 2.4% during this period. Punjab recorded six deaths on Saturday and 120 fresh Covid-19 positive cases on Saturday.
At the same time, the doubling rate which was 52 days on May 31 has now fallen to 19 days on June 20. The doubling rate is the number of days it takes for the Covid-19 cases to double based on the last seven day growth rate. Punjab had recorded the highest doubling rate of 102 days on May 24 but after that the doubling rate started dropping continuously. During the last 20 days, the Punjab health department has collected as many as 1,47,848 samples.
Similarly, the recovery rate of patients has also dropped from 87% on May 31 to 70% on June 20. Like major shifts in other parameters, cases per million population also increased from 77 to over 142.4 persons during the first 20 days of the Unlock 1.0. The Punjab health department is collecting on an average 9,000 samples per day. Test reports of 8,400 Covid-19 samples had come on Saturday.
Dr KK Talwar, the Punjab government’s adviser on health issues and former director of PGIMER at Chandigarh, said, “There is a surge in the cases in the last 2-3 weeks in Punjab after lifting of the lockdown. Our priority now is to catch the patients early, test them at the earliest and do our best.”
He said that now more symptomatic patients are coming and mortality has also risen. “Initial 4-5 days are very crucial. If you miss that period then there are limitations of the doctors with what they can do,” he added. He said that testing capacity has been increased over the past two months.