The number of daily Covid infections doubled in Ludhiana from Tuesday’s 17 to 34 on Wednesday with the active cases also recording a considerable jump.
While no death was reported, as many as 99 active cases were logged on Wednesday, adding 30 more infections to the Tuesday’s figure of 69.
The total number of cases in the district since the beginning of the pandemic stood at 87,401, including 2,095 deaths.
The spike in cases prompted the Ludhiana deputy commissioner (DC) Varinder Kumar Sharma to issue an advisory emphasising the need to strictly follow guidelines issued by the government to prevent the virus spread.
He said it was after a gap of two months that Ludhiana clocked cases in double-digit in the last two days, which shows a slight surge in the situation.
Addressing Ludhiana residents in his weekly Facebook live session, the DC said there was a need to remain cautious as the cases have been reported from the two schools.
He said after the cases surfaced, the administration started a special sampling drive in 12 mohallas of Ludhiana from where the infected students belong. “We are assessing the situation and if needed, we would try to make containment areas for breaking the transmission chain accordingly,” he added.
He said the district administration was committed to tackling any kind of exigency in view of any surge in Covid cases and the health infrastructure has been ramped. Ludhiana is now in a better position to deal with the third wave, he added. The DC said the administration had been running the vaccination drive aggressively and has inoculated 16.12 lakh residents so far.
{{/usCountry}}He said the district administration was committed to tackling any kind of exigency in view of any surge in Covid cases and the health infrastructure has been ramped. Ludhiana is now in a better position to deal with the third wave, he added. The DC said the administration had been running the vaccination drive aggressively and has inoculated 16.12 lakh residents so far.
{{/usCountry}}Ensure aggressive sampling, early detection of cases: DC
DC Sharma on Wednesday also took stock of the sampling drive in the government senior secondary school on Cemetery Road and directed the health department to augment the drive and ensure collection of 1,500 samples daily.
He told the officials to instantly upload the latest data on Cova App, which would further help the rapid response teams in collecting samples.
The DC said that the only way to flatten the curve and break the transmission chain was to do more and more testing, treating and isolating the patients at the earliest.
Accompanied by additional deputy commissioner (ADC) (UD) Sandeep Kumar, ADC (G) Rahul Chaba, SDM Vaneet Kumar, the DC asked the health department to further increase the number of sampling teams from 250 to 300 to ensure aggressive sampling, early detecting, containing and treating the potential Covid cases.
48 RRT, 275 sampling teams formed
District epidemiologist Dr Ramesh Bhagat said as many as 48 rapid response teams and nearly 275 sampling teams have been formed to meet any exigency.