Punjab’s Covid deaths per million half of national average

Also, the state has one of the best recovery rates of 70% against the countrywide figureof 61%.

Punjab’s Covid-19 deaths per million are half of the national average even as the state’s death rate of 3% is almost equal to the countrywide figure.

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As per the state health department’s daily Covid-19 analysis till July 5, Punjab has witnessed 5 deaths per million against overall India figure of 11, which government officials believe is a positive sign.

“The death figure per million reflects that the state has fared well in terms of crisis management. Timely detection of cases and improvement in clinical management are apparently the key reasons behind this,” state Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said.

Till June 5, the state’s death toll was 164 as compared to India’s total of 19,692.

There has been a sudden surge in deaths due to the virus of late, with 99 people succumbing to the virus in June only. Since July 1, the state recorded 26 deaths, taking the toll to 175.

The state nodal officer, however, claims that of the 175 deceased, the coronavirus was the only reason of death only among 22.

“In rest of the cases, the patients did not die due to Covid-19 but because they had other ailments like high blood pressure, high sugar, renal complication, etc when they tested positive. Less deaths per million when the state is doing more testing is encouraging,” Dr Bhaskar added.

In Punjab, 27% of the total cases are active against India’s 36%.

LUDHIANA EMERGES

AS NEW VIRUS HUB

Ludhiana has emerged as the new Covid-19 hub in the state whereas Amritsar, which topped the tally of cases for nearly two months, has shown improvement in the past one week.

In the week preceding July 5, Amritsar witnessed 74 new cases against Ludhiana’s 298, followed by Jalandhar, Sangrur and and Patiala at 137, 127 and 98, respectively.