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Amid receding cases, Covid snuffs out six more lives in Chandigarh tricity area
As many as three people breathed their last in Chandigarh, two people died in Mohali and Panchkula also reported a death after a gap of two days
Even as the tricity reported the lowest Covid-19 cases in a month and the positivity rate also dipped further, it lost six more residents to the deadly virus on Friday.
As many as three people breathed their last in Chandigarh, two people died in Mohali and Panchkula also reported a death after a gap of two days.
A total of 23 people have succumbed to the virus in the tricity in February so far, compared to two in the same period in January.
In all, tricity had logged 112 deaths in the previous month.
Those who died in Chandigarh on Friday were all fully vaccinated, but suffering from various ailments.
A 53-year-old woman, resident of Sector 40, died at PGIMER. She was under treatment for diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and heart failure.
A 76-year-old man from Sector 40, who died at private hospital, also had diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and coronary artery disease.
The third patient, an 80 years old man, who lived in Raipur Khurd, was brought dead at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, and later found positive for Covid.
The latest victims in Mohali were an 82-year-old woman from Mohali, who was admitted at Fortis Hospital, and a 55-year-old woman from Balongi, who died GMCH-32, Chandigarh.
The only fatality in Panchkula was an 83-year-old fully vaccinated man from Pinjore. He was also a cancer patient.
Daily cases drop to 520
In a first since January 5, tricity’s daily Covid-19 cases dropped to 520 on Friday.
Over the past 31 days, the daily tally had always remained over 600, peaking to 3,907 on January 16 and staying in the ballpark for 10 days.
Mohali led Friday’s case count with 231 cases, down from 245 the day before. Chandigarh had 183 cases, lower than 290 on Thursday, while Panchkula’s cases also dropped from 187 to 106 in the same period.
With this, tricity’s active caseload decreased from 5,947 to 5,141 in the past 24 hours.
Now, Mohali has 2,444 infected patients, Chandigarh 2,099 and Panchkula 598.
The daily positivity rate also dipped across the tricity. Chandigarh found only 3.8% people infected out of the 4,796 tested. In Mohali and Panchkula, too, the proportion of positive cases was down to 11%.
Meanwhile, the UT Administration declared part of Sector 56-B as a micro-containment zone in view of a cluster of cases.
So far, 90,481 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Chandigarh. Among them, 87,247 have recovered and 1,135 have died.
In Mohali, 90,712 patients out of the total 94,287 have recovered, but 1,131 have succumbed to the virus.
Panchkula’s caseload stands at 43,367, of which 42,365 patients have been cured and 404 have died.
UT shuts down four mini-Covid care centres
Considering the dip in the number of Covid patients at city’s Mini Covid Care Centres, the UT administration has decided to shut down four such centres and utilise only one at the Sports Complex in Sector 34 to isolate positive patients. The centre is being operated by Kandhari Beverages Private Limited.
UT health secretary Yashpal Garg said, “At present, five Covid Care Centres were being run in Chandigarh. These were at Bal Bhawan, Sector 23; Indira Holiday Home, Sector 24; Police Hospital, Sector 26; IMA, Sector 35; and Sports Complex, Sector 34. We will now admit new patients only at the 50-bed Sports Complex, while the remaining centres will remain on standby for emergency use.”
Asymptomatic patients, who don’t have isolation facilities, like a ventilated separate room with washroom and fully vaccinated caretakers, can get admitted at the available Covid Care Centre after contacting Asha Sharma at 98156-60521.
Medical care by trained doctors, nurses and support staff, apart from medicines, nutritious food, recreation and yoga, etc, are provided for free at the Covid Care Centres.
Relaxations: UT issues formal notification
The Chandigarh administration on Friday came out with a formal notification on the latest relaxations announced a day before.
As per the notification, movement of individuals for all non-essential activities will remain prohibited only between 12.30am and 5am. All hotels, restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, eating places, etc., including home delivery, will be allowed to function up to 12am.
