Chandigarh
Seventy-six more people died due to coronavirus in Punjab on Sunday as the state reported another record single-day spike of 7,014 cases, taking its infection tally to 3,39,090, according to a medical bulletin.
The state had seen 6,762 cases on April 23. With 76 more fatalities in the past 24 hours, the death toll in the state reached 8,432, according to the a medical bulletin.
Amid a record jump in infection numbers, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday urged people to exercise restraint on non-essential travel.
Fourteen people died in Patiala, nine each in Amritsar and Ludhiana and six in Hoshiarpur. Ludhiana recorded the maximum 1,389 cases, followed by 893 in Mohali, 648 in Jalandhar, 569 in Amritsar and 495 in Patiala. A total of 5,315 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from infection, taking the number of cured persons to 2,82,504, the bulletin said.
There are 74 critical patients who are on ventilator while 584 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said. A total of 69,61,532 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it said.
The CM expressed concern over the situation across the country and appealed to people to exercise greater restraint.
{{/usCountry}}The CM expressed concern over the situation across the country and appealed to people to exercise greater restraint.
{{/usCountry}}“We cannot let the situation in the state go out of hand. Our daily cases are currently ranging around 5,500-6,000 with over 10 per cent positivity in the past one week,” he said.
“There are already signs of stress on the health system with increased demand for oxygen. The state is also receiving persons from neighbouring states for treatment, some of whom may be relatives of our people. In such a scenario, it is important that we collectively fight the pandemic,” said the CM in a statement.
Meanwhile, all malls, shops, restaurants, and markets remained shut on Sunday in the state. The government had announced stricter curbs, including the closure of markets. Only shops dealing in essential items such as medicines and vegetables remained open at some places.
26 deaths at Rajindra Hospital in 24 hours
Patiala: Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, reported 26 deaths due to the virus in the past 24 hours. Most of the patients belonged to Patiala district and some from the neighbouring districts.
The district health department on Sunday recorded 14 deaths, highest since the pandemic outbreak. Over 250 patients are admitted in hospital’s Covid care centre, and eight patients are on ventilator support.
The influx of patients has increased at Rajindra hospital as people from Haryana and Delhi have started approaching the facility for Covid treatment due to shortage of beds and oxygen supply in their states.
Dr RPS Sibia, Covid care in-charge, said the mortality rate is high this year as patients are approaching the hospital in an advanced and critical stage.
“Most of the patients are in very critical state with 30-40%of oxygen saturation level. On Sunday, one of the patients came to the hospital 18% of oxygen level. We immediately provided with oxygen supply and rushed him in ICU,” Dr Sibia said.