Ludhiana district reported maximum new positive cases (72), followed by Jalandhar (71) and Patiala (48).(Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)

Congress MLA from Phagwara, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Saturday became the second legislator in Punjab to test positive for coronavirus. The first one to get infected was Fatehgarh Churian MLA and Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa. The Phagwara MLA reportedly got the infection from his younger son, who tested positive earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the state reported seven more deaths, driving up the toll due to COVID-19 to 246. There were 350 new cases, taking the tally infected people to 9,792.

The deaths were reported from Amritsar (a woman aged 37 and two men aged 44 and 51), Hoshiarpur (92-year-old man), Ludhiana (45-year-old man), Kapurthala (79-year-old man) and Mohali (43-year-old man).

Ludhiana district reported maximum new positive cases (72), followed by Jalandhar (71) and Patiala (48).

The other districts which reported new cases were Amritsar (31), Mohali (28), Sangrur (23), Ferozepur (15), Hoshiarpur (12), Moga (10), Ropar and Fazilka (seven each), Faridkot (six), Gurdaspur, Fatehgarh Sahib and Bathinda (four each), Nawanshahr (three), Muktsar (two) and Mansa, Kapurthala and Pathankot (one each).

Moga SP (detective) Harinderpal Singh Parmar tested positive. Civil surgeon Dr Amarpreet Kaur Bajwa said that the officer tested positive in TrueNat testing and has been isolated at home. “He was having mild fever which came out to be typhoid but his TrueNat test came out positive,” she said. A 47-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) posted with SP(D) and a 30-year-old constable posted at Nihal Singh Wala police station also tested positive from Moga Police on Saturday.

In Ludhiana, a 33-year-old CRPF jawan on duty at Ludhiana Central Jail tested positive. A 45-year-old class IV employee (safai sewak) from Borstal Jail tested positive. A 48-year-old Sub-Inspector from traffic wing of Khanna police also tested positive.

Joint director (GST) B K Virdi too tested positive in Jalandhar district.

As per the official media bulletin, 6,454 patients have been discharged and there are 3,092 active cases, 63 of them on oxygen support and nine on ventilator support.

Amritsar has reported maximum COVID-19 deaths (63), followed by Ludhiana with 42 deaths and Jalandhar with 33 deaths. Ludhiana has reported maximum cases of infection (1,767), followed by Jalandhar (1,616) and Amritsar (1,225).

DGP’s honour to cops who donate plasma

Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta on Saturday announced awarding ‘DGP’s honour for exemplary sewa to society’ to policemen who donate plasma to boost collection of plasma for State Plasma Bank. The DGP announced this in a tweet while pointing out that “transfusion of convalescent blood plasma into critically ill COVID 19 patients can save lives”.