Chandigarh: Punjab continues to report a heavy caseload as 778 more people tested positive for Covid-19 while 12 infected with the virus died on Wednesday. Five deaths were reported in Nawanshahr while four died in Jalandhar. One death each was reported in Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Ludhiana.
As many as 108 fresh cases were reported in Nawanshahr while 96 people tested positive in Jalandhar, 80 in Patiala, 67 in Mohali, 63 in Kapurthala, 62 in Amritsar, 61 in Gurdaspur, 19 each in Ferozepur, Sangrur, Ropar and Hoshiarpur, 18 in Moga, 17 in Fatehgarh Sahib, 14 in Bathinda, 13 in Faridkot, 11 in Tarn Taran, three in Muktsar, two in Fazilka and one in Mansa.
A total of 4,712 beneficiaries received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on the third day of the third phase of the ongoing vaccination drive. As many as 4,114 recipients were in the age category of 60-plus while 598 in the age group of 45-plus received the first dose. Punjab food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu was among the recipients of the first dose.
In the first three days, as many as 8,712 members of the two priority groups have been immunised. As many as 1,095 health care and 2,646 frontline workers received their first dose while 41 frontline workers and 1614 healthcare workers were given the second dose. So far, 1,68,447 health and frontline workers have received their first dose and 41,808 have received the second dose.
240 new cases in Haryana
Haryana on Wednesday recorded the highest count of 240 new Covid-19 cases in a day since January 1. There was no death while 113 persons recovered during the day.
The overall count of the state has gone up to 2,71,365 cases, out of which 2,66,843 have recovered, 3,052 have died and 1,470 are still active. With a case surfacing, Mahendergarh also lost the tag of Covid-free district.
Gurugram and Karnal witnessed 44 cases each. Kurukshetra reported 37 cases, followed by Panchkula (22 cases), Faridabad (20), Ambala (18), Panipat (14) and Yamunanagar district (12).
Rest 14 districts reported less than 10 new cases. Four districts namely Rewari, Palwal, Nuh and Charkhi Dadri did not report any case.
On the vaccination front, 6,187 persons were given first and second doses of vaccine during the day. The overall count of persons who have been given the vaccine jab has gone up to 3,14,562.