E-Paper
Ludhiana’s daily Covid cases drop further, but deaths go up
19 people succumb to the virus compared to 15 the day before; infections drop below 500 mark for the first time in 40 days
The district’s daily Covid-19 cases fell below the 500 mark for the first time in 40 days with 461 people testing positive in the last 24 hours.
The number of daily deaths, however, saw an uptick with 19 patients losing their lives to the virus, 26% higher than Monday’s 15 fatalities.
Tuesday’s cases were 9% lower than 507 a day ago. At 482, it was on April 15 last when the daily infections were less than 500. Since then, the cases shot up, reaching the peak of 1,729 on May 9, forcing district authorities to clamp a 17-hour lockdown from May 10.
Case fatality ratio on the rise
The restrictions on public movement have yielded results in the form of cases slumping by 73% in the subsequent 16 days. However, the fatalities’ graph has yet to show a major downturn. Instead, the case fatality ratio (CFR) – the proportion of deaths against positive cases – continues to climb on a weekly basis.
The CFR in the week before the lockdown (May 3-9) was 1.4% with 140 deaths against 9,405 cases.
While the infections came down to 8,800 in the first week (May 10-16) of the restrictions, the case-death ratio shot up to 1.9% with 170 casualties. The subsequent week (May 17-23) was worse, with the CFR spiking to 2.9%, as 154 of the 5,223 patients testing positive died.
Active cases slip further
On a positive note, with the district adding more recoveries on Tuesday, the active cases dropped to 7,133, against 7,804 on Monday.
Of the 81,986 people contracting the infection in Ludhiana so far, 72,945 have successfully beaten the virus – a recovery rate of 88.9%, ahead of the state average of 87.8%. Among the 7,133 patients recuperating at hospitals and in home isolation, 64 are on ventilator support at various health facilities.
District’s death toll crosses 1,900 mark
The latest fatalities pushed the district’s Covid toll to 1,908, highest in Punjab.
Fourteen men and five women were among those who died on Tuesday, with a 30-year-old resident of Kundanpuri being the youngest.
The oldest to die was a 69-year-old resident of Civil Lines. A whopping nine of the total 19 deceased were in their 50s, while four among those who died were aged between 60 and 70. Three each were in their 30s and 40s.
