Ludhiana registers Covid death after 18 days, daily cases climb to 13

Over the past three weeks, the daily cases were in double digits only twice, 10 on July 20 and 11 on July 28

After recording no Covid-19 death for 18 straight days, Ludhiana lost a 60-year-old man to the virus on Friday.

With the increase in cases, the active cases also shot up to 61, a first in the past 12 days. (Bloomberg)

Also, 13 fresh cases cropped up in the past 24 hours, highest in the past 22 days. It was on July 15 last that 16 cases were recorded in the district, following which the daily count had remained 11 or lower.

Over the past three weeks, the daily cases were in double digits only twice, 10 on July 20 and 11 on July 28. On the remaining days, the cases had even dropped to the all-time low of two thrice, on July 26, July 31 and August 3.

With the increase in cases, the active cases also shot up to 61, a first in the past 12 days during which the number of infected patients had stayed below 60.

The sudden uptick in Ludhiana’s cases comes amid the rising pandemic figures in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, with no curbs on inter-state movement, and lowering regard for wearing masks and maintaining social distance in public.

The latest fatality, a resident of Samrala Chowk, pushed the district’s toll to 2,094, while the caseload reached 87,334.

With 85,179 patients getting cured so far, the district’s recovery rate stands at 97.53%.

Appealing to residents to adhere to all safety norms, deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said 8,296 samples were sent for testing on Friday.

Meanwhile, 3,925 beneficiaries were inoculated at the Covid vaccination camps at government and private facilities on Friday. A total of 15,45,078 people have received the vaccine in Ludhiana since the drive was rolled out in January.