Day after Supreme Court ruling, 700 deaths added to list of Covid casualties in Ludhiana

A day after the Supreme Court ruled that the death of patients who succumbed a month after testing positive will be considered a Covid casualty, Ludhiana district added 700 additional fatalities to its tally

A day after the Supreme Court ruled that the death of patients who succumbed a month after testing positive will be considered a Covid casualty, Ludhiana district added 700 additional fatalities to its tally. The apex court had also said that all states are bound to settle all claims of Covid ex-gratia payment of ₹50,000 without wasting any further time.

The apex court had also said that all states are bound to settle all claims of Covid ex-gratia payment of ₹50,000 without wasting any further time. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The number of deaths reported from Ludhiana were earlier 2,299, but the count now stands at 2,999 following the revision. According to state epidemiologist Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, casualty figures of the entire state have been revised following the Apex Court’s orders.

“Earlier, the government used to consider patients who died within 14 days of testing positive a Covid death. The period was changed to 10 days, which was further reduced to seven days. However, the Apex Court observed on Monday that any Covid patient who died within a month of getting infected falls under the category of Covid death and is entitled for ex- gratia. After revising the list, 700 more deaths were included in the list of casualties of Ludhiana, the highest number in Punjab,” said Dr Bhaskar.

Meanwhile, district epidemiologist Dr Sahil Kumar said that following the directions, a new list was prepared of patients who died within a month after being treated and tested negative of the virus.

The health department had faced a lot of criticism, especially during the second wave, when a number of post-treatment deaths were reported from the district within a short period after being discharged from the hospital.

Two patients succumb to infection

Two COVID deaths and 46 fresh infections were reported from the district on Tuesday.

Currently, there are 254 active cases, of which 244 patients are under home isolation. While nine of them are undergoing treatment at private facilities, one of them is admitted to a government health facility.

Ludhiana has so far recorded 1,11,772 Covid infections, of which 1,08,519 people have successfully defeated the virus and 2,999 patients have succumbed to it.