Punjab hits new peak with 4,970 fresh cases
Punjab on Wednesday reported another record spike of 4970 Covid cases, breaking the previous high of 4957 infections witnessed on April 18.
With 69 more fatalities, the death toll in the state climbed to 8,114, according to a bulletin released by the state government. A total of 3,14,269 people have been infected by the virus in the state so far.
Maximum 10 deaths were reported from Amritsar, seven each from Ludhiana and Ferozepur, six in Patiala and five in Hoshiarpur.
According to the bulletin, maximum 879 cases were registered in Ludhiana, followed by 692 in Mohali Nagar, 462 in Patiala, 422 in Jalandhar, 290 in Amritsar, 267 in Bathinda, 221 in Hoshiarpur, 182 in Sangrur, 166 in Faridkot, 164 in Gurdaspur, 162 in Kapurthala, 148 in Ferozepur, 135 in Rupnagar, 124 in Pathankot, 126 in Muktsar, 105 in Moga, 110 in Fazilka, 51 in Fatehgarh Sahib, 32 in Barnala, 50 in SBS Nagar and 41 in Tarn Taran.
SAD demands white paper on Covid spends
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday asked the Congress government to present a white paper to disclose how it used ₹1,000 crore to upgrade hospital infrastructure in the state to fight the Covid-19 pandemic “when nothing had been done on the ground”.
Terming the ₹1,000 crore spend on fighting Covid as a colossal scam, former minister Sikander Singh Maluka demanded a central probe into the claim by an impartial agency, saying even as thousands were dying due to the sheer apathy of the Congress government, the latter was making bogus claims.
In a statement, he said an urgent probe was needed to detect and punish those responsible for the multi-hundred crore scam as well as to put a lid on further corruption so that State money could be spent on patient welfare.
Asking how the government could even make these claims, Maluka said: “There is no visible change in the hospital infrastructure. Districts like Mohali and Rupnagar do not even have dedicated Covid hospitals. New ICU facilities have been created only in two district hospitals. There is a shortage of life saving injections like toclizumab and Itolizumab, besides remedisvir. Patients are not getting access to ventilators. Even ventilators provided by the central government were left unpacked for months because of lack of staff to operate them.”