Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 30

June came as a breather for the city as it witnessed over a 90 per cent decline in Covid-19 cases. The monthly positivity rate stood at 2.7 per cent, which was 16 per cent last month.

In the past one week, 0.98 per cent of the samples tested came back positive. For every 100 confirmed cases, only 0.3 are currently infected and 98.4 per cent have already recovered from the infection.

May remained the worst affected with over 17,399 Covid-19 cases and 275 deaths. The UT Health Department had conducted over one lakh tests, of which 17 per cent of the samples tested positive for the virus.

The deaths due to Covid-19 also declined by 80 per cent this month with the city reporting 55 fatalities. The number of Covid tests saw a reduction of 43 per cent this month. However, the number of tests conducted this month was similar to those conducted in March and also more than the tests conducted during the first wave.

Dr Amandeep Kaur Kang, Director, Health Services, UT, said, “The number of tests has gone down due to a decrease in cases and contact tracing. We are still trying to test as many as possible with mobile testing teams. The daily cases have also hit a new low of a single digit as we have ramped up vaccination. We aim to vaccinate a majority of our population in July.”

71% hospital beds vacant

Of the 916 oxygen beds in Chandigarh hospitals, 71.5 per cent were lying vacant on Wednesday, while 71 per cent ventilator beds (86 of the 121 beds) were also available.

In May, the healthcare infrastructure was overwhelmed as ICU beds with ventilators remained occupied, leaving patients scrambling for critical care beds. On May 6, there was no ventilator bed vacant in city government hospitals.

61% have got first dose

Chandigarh now aims at vaccinating the eligible population by July-end. The UT has claimed to have vaccinated 61 per cent of the eligible population above 18 years with the first dose, while 12 per cent has been vaccinated with the second dose. The total target is over seven lakh.