In some sign of respite, the tricity recorded 3,032 Covid-19 infections on Saturday, 9% down from 3,320 a day ago.
However, five more people died due to the virus – three in Mohali and two in Chandigarh.
The drop in daily cases came after a steady rise for the past three days. After 2,215 infections on January 17, the daily tally had spiked to 2,966, 3,185 and 3,320 in the subsequent three days, respectively.
Right before the 2,215 cases on January 17, the tricity had recorded its highest daily count of 3,907 on January 16.
Among the cases surfacing on Friday, 1,313 were reported from Mohali, lower than 1,360 on Thursday.
Chandigarh also saw the cases dropping from 1,294 to 1,172 in the past 24 hours. Panchkula matched the trend as cases dipped from 2,207 to 2,108 in the same period.
With this, tricity’s active cases also decreased from 21,142 to 20,476 between Thursday and Friday. At 9,260, Chandigarh still has the highest number of positive patients, followed by Mohali with 9,018 and Panchkula with 2,018.
Slight drop in positivity rates
{{/usCountry}}Slight drop in positivity rates
{{/usCountry}}The 9% drop in cases in the past 24 hours also helped slightly lower the positivity rate across the tricity.
Chandigarh found 17% positive cases among total samples tested, compared to 19.3% on Thursday.
At 31%, the proportion of positive samples in Mohali, though tad lower than 32% the day before, was still worrisome. Panchkula’s positivity rate was also still high, though it dipped from 29% to 25%.
Three senior citizens among latest fatalities
Among the five Covid-related deaths in the tricity on Friday, three were senior citizens.
Two of them, a 70-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman, were residents of Dera Bassi, Mohali. The elder man was in home isolation, while the woman died at the Ambala civil hospital.
The third fatality in Mohali was a 25-year-old woman from Sohana, who was admitted at Shalby Hospital, Phase 9.
The deaths reported from Chandigarh included an 80-year-old fully vaccinated woman, who lived in Manimajra. Admitted at a private hospital, she was also suffering from heart and lung disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
The other patient, a 58-year-old woman from Raipur Khurd, was also fully vaccinated, but was also getting treated for peritonitis.
The Covid deaths on Friday took Mohali’s toll till date to 1,101 and Chandigarh’s to 1,097. Panchkula has recorded 384 deaths so far, last among them on January 16.
A total of 83,735 people have tested positive for Covid in Chandigarh since the beginning of the pandemic and 73,378 have been cured. Mohali has logged 85,325 cases, including 75,116 recoveries. Panchkula’s caseload of 39,285 comprises 36,793 recoveries.
55 people in UT guest house test positive
As many as 55 guests and staff members tested positive for Covid-19 at the UT Guest House on Friday. A total of 163 people were sampled for RT-PCR tests. Following the positive results, the Guest House premises were sanitised and all services continued as usual. The positive patients have been isolated, and other staff and guests have been asked to strictly adhere to the Covid protocols.
Kin to explain why unvaccinated deceased skipped jabs
CHANDIGARH The UT health department on Friday said that the family members of Covid victims, who were not vaccinated against the virus, will have to explain why the deceased was not immunised.
“Though we have fully vaccinated more than 99% of the targeted adult population, yet many Covid deaths were of unvaccinated people. From Saturday, family members or relatives of unvaccinated deceased will have to explain the reason for non-vaccination. Also, they will have to show that they are fully vaccinated or give an explanation if they have also defaulted.”
On January 19, HT had highlighted that around 60% of people, who succumbed to Covid in the tricity since January 1, had not taken a single dose of vaccine. Chandigarh recorded 18 deaths in this period and six of these deceased had not received even the first dose, while 10 were fully vaccinated.