Till date, while 1,080 Covid-19 patients have died in Chandigarh, 10,066 patients died in Haryana, 3,880 in Himachal Pradesh and 16,657 patients have lost their lives due to Covid-19 in Punjab. (Representational) At least five districts of the region — Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh — have figured among the top 41 districts of the country with highest weekly positivity rate (over 10 per cent), recorded by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
These include Chandigarh with 11.88 per cent positivity rate, Faridabad (16.55 per cent), Gurgaon (13.75 per cent), Lahaul & Spiti (64.71 per cent – the highest in the country), Patiala (16.15 per cent) and Pathankot (11.38 per cent).
The number of districts from the three states figuring in the weekly positivity rate of 5-10 per cent is even more. While Panchkula and Ambala figure in this category with 8.20 and 6.67 per cent, respectively, from Haryana, Kangra, Kullu, Shimla and Bilaspur figure in this category from Himachal Pradesh with 7.55, 7.38, 5.69 and 5.18 per cent positivity rate, respectively. From Punjab, SAS Nagar (Mohali) and Bathinda figure in this category with 8.27 and 7.90 per cent, respectively.
All these 13 districts (five districts above 10 per cent and eight districts above five per cent) are having far higher weekly Covid-positivity rate than the national average of 4.75 per cent.
As far as the vaccination status of teenagers between 15-17 years old is concerned, Punjab figures far behind that the neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
Till January 6 (8 am), while Haryana had administered over 2.79 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines and Himachal Pradesh had administered over 1.75 lakh doses to the age group of 15-17 years, Punjab had barely administered 12,497 doses.
In Haryana that has approximately 15.40 lakh beneficiaries in the age group of 15-17 years, the state government is aiming to cover a substantial population within the next one week.
Special campaigns have already been launched and roughly 80,000-90,000 doses of vaccine are being administered to children on a daily basis.
Punjab, however, figures among the states and Union Territories with poorest vaccination coverage in this category.
The other places where vaccination pace is poor include Arunachal Pradesh (6,060), Chandigarh (6,844), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (12,289), Daman & Diu (8,305), Ladakh (3,254), Lakshadweep (1,196), Manipur (2,744), Meghalaya (2,709), Mizoram (2,878), Nagaland (608), Puducherry (5,926), and Sikkim (7,693). However, considering all these other states and UTs, Punjab has far bigger population to cover under the category of 15-17 years old.
As far as the cumulative vaccination coverage is concerned, while Haryana has administered over 3.54 crore doses (over 2.05 crore first dose, over 1.49 crore second dose), Himachal has administered over 1.14 crore doses (over 59.08 lakh first and 55.06 lakh second dose), while Punjab has administered over 2.68 crore doses (over 1.72 crore first and 95.69 lakh second dose) of Covid-19 vaccines.
Chandigarh has so far administered over 17.99 lakh doses (including over 10.15 lakh first and over 7.83 lakh second doses).
While the pace of vaccination is slow, the new cases of Covid-19 infections are witnessing a rapid surge in various parts across the region.
As on January 6 morning, the number of active Covid-19 patients in Chandigarh was 665, Haryana had 6,059 active patients, Himachal Pradesh reported 1,216, while Punjab had 4,434 active Covid-19 patients in the state.
Till date, while 1,080 Covid-19 patients have died in Chandigarh, 10,066 patients died in Haryana, 3,880 in Himachal Pradesh and 16,657 patients have lost their lives due to Covid-19 in Punjab.
“We are making all possible efforts to curtail the ongoing transmission rate of the Covid-19 infections. Today only, more districts have been included in Group-A districts (high-risk zones) and additional curbs have also been imposed to prevent overcrowding. As far as encouraging the vaccination is concerned, special camps are continuously being held to cover 15.40 lakh children between the age group of 15-17 years old. The other category of beneficiaries (18+), over 99 per cent vaccination coverage of first dose and over 72 per cent vaccination of coverage of second dose has already been achieved across Haryana”, a senior Haryana government officer told The Indian Express.
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