E-Paper
Spurt and slowdown, Chandigarh tricity area’s coronavirus tally saw it all
Fresh cases climbed from 13 to 109 in one month since the lockdown
In the first month of the lockdown since March 23, the number of Covid-19 cases in the tricity towns of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula grew from 13 to 109, an eightfold increase.
The country’s tally, on the other hand, was 500, which has now gone up to 24,434 cases, a whopping spike of 48 times.
While the first three weeks saw an exponential increase in the cases across the tricity as well, the cases slowed down in the fourth week, especially in Chandigarh.
Mohali now has the maximum number of cases at 63, followed by Chandigarh at 28 and Panchkula at 18.
Tricity’s first case was reported in Chandigarh on March 18 when a 23-year-old woman, who had returned from England, tested positive.
When Punjab announced the curfew on March 23, Mohali had reported five cases. Chandigarh announced the curfew a day later on March 24 when the number of cases was seven.
Panchkula’s lockdown kicked in the same day, with just one case, making the tricity count 13 at that point.
Thereon, the first week of the lockdown till March 30 saw the three cities reporting eight more cases. But the increase in patients doubled in the next week till April 6, with 18 more cases, taking the tally to 39.
As of April 13, three weeks into the lockdown, the number doubled even further, climbing to 80. This trend of increase in cases in the second and third week was seen nationally as well.
However, the spike eased thereafter, with 26 new cases till April 20, and three more cases as of April 24, making the tricity count 109. “As the air traffic has been shut down, new sources of infection have been blocked from entering the tricity, which eventually helped in bringing down new cases. The lockdown has also played a major role in controlling widespread transmission,” said PVM Lakshmi, senior epidemiologist at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research.
Hospital director Jagat Ram gave credit to extensive contact tracing and testing. “Fewer new cases was possible due to extensive contact tracing and their testing. It appears the rate will slow down further,” he added.
