Ludhiana touches new peak with 598 Covid-19 cases, six dead

Active cases rise further to 3,817, second highest in state after Mohali; five senior citizens and a 36-year-old among those dead

With 598 people testing positive, the district on Friday recorded its highest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases – a 12.8% spike from its last high of 530 cases on April 11.

While the district is leading the state’s infection count with over 41,000 cases, residents continue to show scant regard for Covid appropriate behaviour, including wearing masks and maintaining social distance in public spaces. (Harsimar Pal Singh/HT)

Also, six people succumbed to the virus for the third day in a row, pushing the toll to 1,232.

The fresh cases took the district’s tally past the 41,000 mark, just two days after it crossed 40,000 cases.

Still leading Punjab’s caseload with 41,543 infections, Ludhiana has 3,817 active cases, second only to Mohali’s 5,075.

As many as 73,560 people are under home quarantine and 26 on ventilator support in various hospitals.

On the bright side, 36,494 people (87.84%) have successfully beaten the virus, meeting the national average of 87.8%.

The district has reported 7,133 cases in 16 days of April – just 161 short of March’s 7,294 infections. Steadily rising, the deaths this month, at 89, are also nearing March’s toll of 115.

An undertrial, an international traveller and a healthcare worker were among the latest cases.

Civil surgeon Dr Sukhjiwan Kakkar said more positive cases were coming to the fore as the health department had ramped up testing to rein in the fast transmission of the new variants. He urged residents to not lower their guard and follow safety measures.

Oxygen plant set up at civil hospital

To meet the rising demand for oxygen amid the Covid surge, the health department on Friday inaugurated an oxygen plant at the Civil Hospital.

Inaugurated by MLA Surinder Dawar, the plant has a capacity of 70MLD (million litres daily), which is enough to smoothly run the Covid unit and other departments, said senior medical officer Dr Amarjeet Kaur.