As many as 10,831 beneficiaries (60+ and 45-59 years with comorbidities) were vaccinated in Punjab Saturday. With this, a total of 93,052 beneficiaries from this category have been vaccinated since phase-2 vaccination drive had started on March 1.(Express File/Harmeet Sodhi) ON JANUARY 31, there were only 2,128 active Covid-19 cases in Punjab, even though the overall count had reached 1,73,276 the same day. However, by March 9, the number of active cases had shot up to 8,522. On March 10, Punjab recorded a whopping 1,422 fresh cases, sending the active case tally up to 9,402, while total cases reached 1,92,040.
Another 1,309 new cases were recorded in the state on Thursday (March 11), taking the case tally to 1,93,345. Amid the upsurge, Ludhiana and Patiala districts reimposed night curfew Friday onwards, becoming the fifth and sixth districts in the state to do so.
On January 31, the Covid toll had reached 5,615 in Punjab, which increased to 5,996 as per the March 11 medical bulletin of the state government, with a total of 381 deaths during these five weeks in Punjab, while 20,102 new cases had also been reported during the same time period.
Not only this, on January 31, as per the medical bulletin of the health department of Punjab, a total of 192 new cases had been recorded with 6 deaths while on March 9, this number swelled to 1,036 with 20 deaths on a single day.
On March 10, there were 1,422 new cases and 17 deaths. On March 11, another 1309 cases were reported with 18 deaths.
While night curfew is back in six districts of Punjab — Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala, Ludhiana and Patiala — many other districts are also reviewing the situation depending upon the number of cases being reported on a daily basis.
Health department data shows that active cases increased to 2,176 on February 7 while the total deaths reached 5,642. However, on February 14, the active case count was 2,335 and over death toll had reached 5,694. The spike continued as active case count reached 3,019 on February 21 alongwith total deaths reaching 5,754.
In another week, i.e on February 28, active cases reached 4,632 and total deaths hit 5,832. The over Covid tally by February 28 had reached 1,82,176 as per the medical bulletin of the health department.
On March 7, however, the active cases number reached 7,497 while a total of 95 deaths took place between March 1 and March 7, thus taking the death toll to 5,927. The number of active cases are now multiplying fast.
As on March 9, the number had reached 8,522 while active cases on March 11 were at 10,069 with 69 deaths from March 8 to March 11. The overall Covid toll reached 5,996 and case tally on March 11 was 1,93,345 in Punjab.
Once again, the total number of cases per day has started increasing, as the per day case count on February 28 was 582 with 7 deaths which increased to 1,051 with 17 deaths on March 7, while on March 9 there were 1,036 cases with 20 deaths, and 17 deaths and 1,422 cases on March 10 while on March 11, 1309 new cases were reported in Punjab.
Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said, “I did a meeting with the NGOs of Ludhiana where they can play a role in spreading this message among people that they should move out of the house only for necessary work and should follow Covid guidelines. In addition to this, religious heads have also been requested to spread this message across to appeal to masses to avoid visiting religious places and instead pray at their respective homes only. We have also imposed night curfew starting from March 12 onwards which will be from 11 pm to 5 am, till further orders.”
Jalandhar DC Ghanshyam Thori said, “We imposed night curfew looking at the rising Covid cases in Jalandhar. However, no economic activity has been hampered, only a larger message to people is that they should avoid social gatherings at night and should focus only on important work. They need to stay alert and should continue following Covid guidelines.”