Ludhiana: Covid-19 cases reported in the district in the past week were the highest since the third week of December 2020. With the disease spreading its tentacles, the active cases have crossed the 500-mark after many months.
The health department data shows that between February 21 and 27, as many as 438 new cases were reported, which were 106 (31.9%) more as compared with the preceding week. From December 13 to 19 last year the figure was 467, which declined thereafter to less than 300 and has been on the rise in the recent times.
An analysis of the data since July 6 last year shows that after reaching the highest value of 2,802 cases between September 13 and 19, the number witnessed a fall to 523 between October 11 and 17 and 325 from October 25 to 31 last year. There was an increase to 439 between November 1 and 7 and 610 between November 8 and 14 before reaching 696 from November 22 to 28 last year. After that, new cases continued to decrease and the figure dropped to the lowest value of 196 between January 10 and 16 before rising again to 287 during January 31 to February 6; 332 from February 14 to February 20 and then to the current value.
In the weekly case count, Ludhiana (438) is at the second spot in the state. SBS Nagar tops the list with 543 cases and Jalandhar is third (388). Barnala has the lowest number of four cases.
Meanwhile, Ludhiana has the third highest number of active cases (553 till Saturday evening) in the state. SBS Nagar again tops the list with 709 active cases and SAS Nagar is second with 556. At seven, Mansa’s figure is the lowest.
Civil surgeon Dr Sukhjeevan Kakkar said, “The number of daily cases has increased, but the rise is by 10-12 cases. The government has issued guidelines that will be enforced to check the increase in cases. Residents must follow the protocols to keep the disease at bay.”