Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 9

After a gap of almost 75 days, the number of active cases in Punjab dipped below the 20,000-mark at 18,546 on Tuesday. The number is one-fourth as compared to the May 12 peak, when the active cases were around 80,000.

In January this year, the active cases had come down to around 2,000. With the beginning of the second wave in February, the cases started rising and the trend continued over the next three months.

After the peak last month, the state started witnessing a decline in the number of daily as well as active cases.

On January 8, active cases stood at 3,007. The same came down to 2,112 in February. Soon the number rose exponentially and the state added around 18,000 active cases in a few days. Between April 8 and May 8, the state’s active caseload increased by almost 50,000. As on May 8, the number of active cases was 71,948.

Even as the number has gone down below 20,000, experts caution people not to lower the guard and must comply with the Covid protocol.