E-Paper
Active Covid cases in Chandigarh again go past 1,000
The UT recorded 144 new cases — the highest since the surge post festive season last November — which took the number of active cases to 1,032
The number of active Covid-19 cases crossed the 1,000 mark after a span of four months in Chandigarh on Saturday.
The UT recorded 144 new cases — the highest since the surge post festive season last November — which took the total and number of active cases to 22,976 and 1,032, respectively.
Meanwhile, the death of a 51-year-old woman from Dhanas took the number of fatalities to 358. The recovery rate stands at 94%, with 21,586 patients being cured so far.
The grim milestone of 1,000 active cases, up from 430 at the beginning of the month, is coupled with a substantial increase in positivity rate, which is more than double the national average and second highest in the country despite increase in testing.
Even as Chandigarh is conducting around 1,400 tests per million population in a day, against the national average of around 600, the weekly positivity rate in the city has bumped up to 6.3%, against 2.8% in India.
The neighbouring state of Punjab, which is also witnessing a surge in infections, is conducting 657 tests per million population and has a weekly positivity rate of 5%, which is the third highest in the country after Maharashtra and Chandigarh.
‘Take precautions to beat surge’
“This shows that the infection is widespread in the community, and if people do not adhere to the safety protocol, the situation can turn more serious. A similar trend was witnessed in November, but as people started taking precautions, the number of cases went down,” said Dr Amandeep Kang, director of health services.
In November, the number of active cases had started to fall after reaching the peak of 1,190.
“We strongly suggest that residents should venture outside only for essential work and for their jobs. Dine-in at restaurants should be avoided, and masks should be used at social gatherings. Adhering to the protocol for at least 10 days can reverse the upward trend,” said Dr Kang, while adding that it has been observed that social gatherings, and not the workplace, are the main source of infection.
“In March last year, we had the target of eliminating this disease in six months. Now, we have completed one year of the pandemic, and the situation is the same,” said Dr Jagat Ram, director, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. “We are seeing surges at constant intervals, as we don’t follow the Covid appropriate behaviour. It needs at least one year of strict adherence; otherwise we will see these waves coming regularly.”
However, in the recent surge, no case of reinfection or different variant of virus has surfaced in the city, said officials. Meanwhile, the number of vaccine doses administered in Chandigarh has reached 50,670 after 2,558 people were jabbed on Saturday. The coverage among both healthcare and frontline workers is around 50%.
