Covid-19: Punjab’s death toll set to cross 1,000, tally nears 40,000

CHANDIGARH: As many as 1,513 fresh Covid-19 cases and 34 deaths surfaced in Punjab on Friday, taking the state’s death toll due to the virus to 991.
Of all deaths in the state, 605 have been reported in August. Till July 31, the state had recorded only 386 Covid fatalities.
With 1,513 people out of 23,893 whose samples were collected by the health department testing positive, the positivity rate on Friday was recorded at 6.33%, 2.42% less than the day before. Overall, the state’s tally stood at 39,327 when this report was filed. A total of 10 cases belonging to other states had been removed from the tally.
Among the new cases, 125 people were found co-infected with influenza-like illness (ILI), while 309 were contacts of positive cases. In all, eight people succumbed to the virus in Ludhiana, five each in Patiala and Jalandhar, three in Amritsar, two in Moga, and one each in Barnala, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur and Mohali.
The trend of high mortality rate is expected to continue as 42 people were on ventilator support and 418 on oxygen support when this report was filed. Ludhiana contributed the highest number of new cases,
242. It was followed by Patiala, which added 201 fresh cases to the state’s tally. In Jalandhar, 169 people were tested positive, 143 in Mohali and 102 in Sangrur.
As many as 90 cased surfaced in Bathinda, 70 in Kapurthala, 69 in Ferozepur, 49 in Gurdaspur, 39 each in Barnala and Fatehgarh Sahib, 27 in Muktsar, 26 in Pathankot, 25 in Nawanshahr, 20 in Ropar, 19 in Faridkot, 16 in Mansa, 15 in Hoshiarpur, and 11 in Tarn Taran.
A total of 856 people were discharged after recovering, taking the tally of patients discharged so far to 23,893.