Chandigarh tricity area completes one week with zero Covid deaths

The daily deaths had peaked to 38 on May 5, while the cases had climbed to a record high of 2,612 on May 10

Witnessing a steady decline in Covid-19 cases for nearly two months now, the tricity did not register any virus-related death in the past one week, a first since the devastating second wave started in March.

INVITING TROUBLE Residents thronged Sukhna Lake in huge numbers on Sunday, while completely disregarding the need for social distancing, even as volunteers carried banners encouraging them to pay heed. (Keshav Singh/HT)

The daily deaths had peaked to 38 on May 5, while the cases had climbed to a record high of 2,612 on May 10. As lockdown restrictions came in place across the tricity in the first week of May, the figures started showing a downturn, allowing public movement and businesses to resume in June.

From 1,079 Covid cases and 58 deaths between June 7 and 13, six weeks later, the figures have come down to 78 and zero, respectively, in the past seven days, bringing much-needed respite to the health infrastructure.

Panchkula even saw the daily cases dropping to zero on July 17, while Chandigarh’s cases came down to one after nearly 15 months on July 16 and Mohali’s to two after an equal period on July 15.

Tricity, too, logged cases in single digits twice on July 13 and July 17 when nine and six people were found infected, respectively.

While no deaths were recorded in the past one week, nine people have succumbed to the virus since the advent of July, including seven in Mohali and one each in Chandigarh and Panchkula.

The recovery rate continues to remain over 98% across the three jurisdictions, while the daily positivity rate has slipped to below 1%.

Chandigarh tricity area completes one week with zero Covid deaths

10 test positive

On Sunday, in a slight rise in cases, 10 people tested positive against six on Saturday, which was a fresh low in nearly 15 months.

Chandigarh’s cases rose from three to six in the past 24 hours, while Mohali had three cases for the second consecutive day. After reporting zero cases on Saturday, Panchkula logged one new case.

The active cases continued to recede, settling at 120 from Saturday’s 131. Currently, 50 patients each are infected in Chandigarh and Mohali, and 20 in Panchkula.

Since the pandemic broke out, their caseloads have reached, 61,030, 68,402 and 30,630, respectively.

At 1,056, Mohali’s Covid toll is the highest in the tricity, followed by Chandigarh’s 809 and Panchkula’s 375.