A day after the number of fresh Covid-19 cases in the tricity dropped below 200 for the first time since mid-August, there was a marginal rise as 239 people tested positive for the virus.
However, the figures in the first five days of this month are quite promising, as only 1,512 people have tested positive, as compared to 18,584 throughout September. The last month witnessed a major surge in infections, with the peak reached on September 13, when 865 people tested positive.
The month had also accounted for 65% of the total deaths recorded in the tricity till September 30. Even the daily toll has come down, with five recorded on Monday.
Three men, aged 34, 54, and 56, from Sectors 47, Sector 25, and Sector 19, respectively, died in Chandigarh, while a 48-year-old man from Sector 15 and a 62-year-old woman from Bitna succumbed in Panchkula district. Mohali recorded zero casualty for the second time in three days.
In Chandigarh, 133 people tested positive on Monday, a day after the number had come down to double digits (85) for the first time since August 19. With 199 people being discharged, the number of active cases came down to 1,604, reaching the pre-September level.
{{/usCountry}}In Chandigarh, 133 people tested positive on Monday, a day after the number had come down to double digits (85) for the first time since August 19. With 199 people being discharged, the number of active cases came down to 1,604, reaching the pre-September level.
{{/usCountry}}For the third consecutive day, Mohali district too witnessed positive cases in just double figures. On Monday, 63 people tested positive while 169 patients were discharged. In Panchkula, which too has been reporting fresh infections in double digits, only 43 people tested positive.
The tricity’s tally is inching towards 30,000, with 29,805 people tested positive so far, of whom 3,663 (12.3%) are still not discharged. As many as 472 patients have died while 25,670 have been cured.
“The pattern seen in the past two weeks in the region, including Chandigarh, shows the Covid trajectory is on the downturn after witnessing a spike in the month of September,” said Dr KK Talwar, former director of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. “The infection spread has been contained to an extent and things are settling down with the number of fresh cases lesser than the number of people recovering. It is a positive sign, but we need to be vigilant and keep taking the Covid threat seriously.”
TESTING NUMBERS DROP TOO
In Chandigarh, there has been a significant drop in Covid-19 testing and cases in the past one week.
Data of the last 15 days shows testing almost halving from 11,271 (conducted between September 21 to September 28) to 5,110 last week. This corelated with a drop in the number of cases from 1,380 to 767 in the same period.
In Panchkula, too, the numbers are on the decline. Except on Sunday, when 1,120 tests were conducted, the authorities have conducted less than 300 tests daily in the past four days. On Monday, only 275 were conducted.
While some health experts claimed infection spread appeared to have been contained because fewer contacts of infected persons were being tested, Dr Rajesh Kumar, former head, department of community medicine and school of public health, PGIMER, said people should come forward for tests even for mild symptoms, which in turn can stop infection spread and fatalities.
“The dip is on the expected lines, just as the rise in late July. Around 1% population has been infected in Chandigarh, which has been detected through diagnostic tests. There will be more or less an equal number that would have been infected as they remained asymptomatic or had mild symptoms,” said Dr Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER.
Meanwhile, Dr Manjit Singh, civil surgeon, Mohali, while giving a note of caution to residents, said: “Though the number of cases has gone down in the past few days, if we adopt a careless attitude and do not take precautions, the virus can strike us again in no time.”