With 1,004 cases, P’kula among top five districts with highest active cases in Haryana

The number of active cases in Panchkula district crossed the 1,000-mark on Tuesday, as 89 more tested positive for Covid-19 here. At present, there are 1,004 active cases in the district. Before this, Panchkula had breached the 1,000-mark in active cases in September 2020.
Due to the sudden surge in the caseload here, Panchkula now figures among the top five districts, standing fourth, in terms of active cases in Haryana.

Panchkula, which was recognised as one of the best managed districts in Haryana amid the Covid crisis, has been reporting increasing number of cases daily– now, grappling to take hold of the situation. The district is preceded by Gurgaon with 1,95 active cases, Karnal with 1,427 active cases and Ambala with 1,064 active cases. Kurukshetra, stood at the fifth positive, has 839 active cases at present. The authorities have been expressing concern, requesting people to follow Covid appropriate behavior and even deploying re-mobilising incident commanders for checking on defaulters and issuing orders for increase in testing and vaccinations.

“With 1,000 plus active cases today, people of Panchkula should be concerned. If the surge continues in this way, we will be stretching the existing health infrastructure to a point that activities for breaking chain of transmission will be compromised. Parallel Management of Covid-19 and vaccination drive is a challenge in itself. I appeal to the residents to be responsible and wear masks, maintain appropriate social distancing and sanitize hands regularly. Otherwise, we might not be in a position to check the transmission,” said CMO Panchkula Dr Jasjeet Kaur.

Last week, Panchkula Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja, in view of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases, had emphasised on strict compliance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and had also constituted a team of officials to carry out intensive tracing of the contacts of Covid-19 positive patients.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Panchkula had reported its highest single-day spike, as 257 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in the district.
The active cases tally had stood under 100 in January and increased to over 200 in the first week of March. The numbers had crossed the 300-mark on March 10 and 400-mark on March 16, further surging to cross the 1,000-mark on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the recovery rate decreased to 91.04 per cent.

While 89 tested positive on Tuesday, 102 new cases were added to the district tally owing to the tracing of cases from the past two days. A total of 197 healthcare workers have been infected in Panchkula as yet. At least eight of these healthcare workers (HCWs) were infected on Saturday and as many as 18 HCWs tested positive in three days.

Till now, 12,936 people have tested positive for the infection in the district, with an added 4,210 people from other district testing positive here. As many as 154 people have also succumbed to the disease here. No Covid-related death was reported in the district on Tuesday. Meanwhile, 11,778 people have been cured and discharged in the district.