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14-year-old girl among 30 dead in Chandigarh tricity as contagion rages on
2,290 people found infected with Covid-19; Chandigarh’s case tally crosses 50,000 mark; tricity hospitals remain overstretched, with only 3% ventilators and 15% oxygen beds left vacant for patients
Continuing its relentless march, the Covid-19 pandemic claimed the lives of 30 people in the tricity, the youngest among them a 14-year-old Panchkula girl, who had no other ailment.
Matching its all-time high on May 5, Mohali again logged 17 deaths, while Chandigarh and Panchkula reported 10 and three fatalities, respectively.
At 30, Sunday’s tricity toll was second only to the record 38 deaths on May 5, third-highest being 29 deaths each on May 4 and April 28.
The tricity also clocked 2,290 new infections, crossing the 2,200 mark for the third straight day.
Mohali once again led the daily tally with 918 cases, followed by Chandigarh with 895 and Panchkula with 477 cases. The positivity rate of all three continued to hover over 20%, indicating every one in five people being sampled was testing positive.
The tricity had first breached the 2,000 mark on April 22, and since then, has logged over 2,000 cases as many as 14 times in 18 days. The biggest single-day surge was recorded on May 5 with 2,527 cases.
In just nine days of May, 19,635 people have tested positive in the tricity and 229 have died, compared to 43,145 cases and 311 deaths through April.
12 senior citizens among Mohali’s fatalities
In Mohali, the youngest fatality was a 38-year-old man from Kharar. As many as 12 deceased were senior citizens, aged between 65 and 80. Three females, aged 53, 52 and 49, and a 55-year-old man were the other casualties.
With this, the district’s toll climbed to 692, highest in the tricity. The fresh cases pushed its total to 54,758, second highest in Punjab after Ludhiana’s 66,995.
At 253, majority of Sunday’s cases were from Mohali city, followed by 219 from Dhakoli, 150 from Kharar, 126 from Dera Bassi and 71 from Gharuan, while the rest were scattered around Boothgarh, Kurali and Banur.
As per the health bulletin, the recoveries remained 43,374 (79%), as no patient recovered on Sunday, but the active cases rose to 10,692, placed right behind Ludhiana’s highest active cases of 12,047.
30-year-old among 10 dead in UT
A 30-year-old man from Dhanas was among the latest fatalities in Chandigarh that took its toll to 568.
All deceased, including five men, aged 30, 67, 70, 91 and 99, and five women, aged 45, 55, 54, 72 and 90, had comorbidities.
With 895 infections, the city’s cumulative cases crossed the 50,000 mark for the first time.
Of the total 50,207 cases so far, 8,511 patients are still fighting the virus and 41,128 (82%) have been cured, matching the national average of 82.15%.
Panchkula’s total deaths reached 249 on Sunday, that also saw its caseload climbing to 24,930.
The 14-year-old deceased was from Parwala, while the others, who lost their lives, were a 40-year old man from Beer Ghaggar and an 81-year old woman from Sector 21.
The district has 2,593 active cases and 21,728 people (87%) have successfully beaten the virus.
