Covid claims seven more lives in Chandigarh tricity

Both Mohali and Panchkula recorded three virus-related deaths each, while one person succumbed in Chandigarh

The tricity lost seven more residents to Covid-19 on Monday, pushing this month’s toll to 68, nearly 10 times higher than seven deaths in December.

A man getting tested for Covid-19 in Sector 42, Chandigarh. (Keshav Singh/HT)

Both Mohali and Panchkula recorded three virus-related deaths each, while one person succumbed in Chandigarh.

Those who died in Mohali were an 84-year-old woman from Phase 9, who was admitted at Cheema Hospital, Phase 4, and a 72-year-old man, who breathed his last at Ivy Hospital, Sector 71. Both were fully vaccinated, but also suffering from other diseases.

The third victim, a 55-year-old woman from Kharar, was not vaccinated. She died at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh.

All three deceased from Panchkula were men, aged 91, 78 and 58, residents of Sectors 2, 18 and 19, respectively.

The nonagenarian was also hypertensive and diabetic, the 78-year-old was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and the 58-year-old was getting treated for cancer. Two of them were not vaccinated.

The only fatality reported from Chandigarh was an 85-year-old man, who lived in Sector 7 and died at GMSH, Sector 16. He was also suffering from hypertension and hypothyroidism, and had not been vaccinated.

Though over four deaths daily since January 16 remain a cause of concern, tricity’s daily Covid-19 cases dropped below 2,000, a first since 1,945 cases on January 11.

As many as 1,845 people tested positive on Monday, down from 2,507 on Sunday, though health experts cautioned that it could be due to lesser number of tests amid the rainy weather, as the positivity rate didn’t see a significant decline.

While Chandigarh and Panchkula reported a dip in their cases, Mohali’s infections rose.

A total of 1,096 people were found infected in Mohali, compared to 1,084 the day before. In Chandigarh, the daily case count reduced from 808 to 568 and in Panchkula, from 615 to 181.

However, Chandigarh’s positivity remained unchanged at around 14% over the past 24 hours. In Panchkula, though it decreased from 38% to 32%, it was still considerably high.

Mohali found 23% people positive out of total samples, against 28% on Sunday, still a worrisome figure.

Meanwhile, tricity’s active caseload also increased from 18,669 to 18,764 since Sunday.

As many as 8,510 patients are still recuperating in Mohali, 7,768 in Chandigarh and 2,486 in Panchkula.

The UT administration also declared 20 micro-containment zones across Chandigarh on Monday to prevent the infection from spreading.