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Punjab reports over 1,400 new Covid-19 cases, active caseload jumps by over 350 cases
The active caseload in Punjab too witnessed a spike from the 10,069 cases reported on Thursday and currently stands at 10,452.
Punjab witnessed a fresh spike in its daily new Covid-19 cases on Friday as the state reported 1,408 fresh cases and 34 deaths taking the tally to 194,753 cases, according to a bulletin from the state government. The state had reported 1,309 cases and 18 deaths on Thursday. The active caseload in Punjab too witnessed a spike from the 10,069 cases reported on Thursday and currently stands at 10,452. In the last 24 hours, 991 new recoveries were reported taking the number of total recoveries to 178,271.
The state government conducted 36,412 Covid-19 tests and collected 19,644 samples on Friday. With this, 5,313,932 samples have been collected in Punjab so far, according to the latest data.
Also read | Kerala reports less than 2,000 new Covid-19 cases after 3 days, active cases continue to decline
The Union ministry of health and family welfare on Friday said that Punjab along with Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu accounted for nearly 86 per cent of the daily new cases reported in the country. The ministry also noted that Punjab is one among six states which accounted for nearly 86 per cent of the new deaths. Earlier on Thursday, the ministry had said that active caseload spiked by over 7,000 cases in Punjab — the second-highest increase after Maharashtra, — between February 11 (2,112 cases) and March 11 (9,402 cases).
Among the districts, SAS Nagar reported the highest number of new cases on Friday with 194 cases, followed by Hoshiarpur with 188 cases and Patiala with 152 cases, data showed. Ludhiana remained the worst-affected district with 28,456 cumulative cases while Jalandhar has the highest active cases amongst districts (1,356 cases). Punjab currently has one containment zone and 54 micro-containment zones, as per the latest update.
Also read | Maharashtra sees back-to-back cluster outbreaks of Covid cases
Meanwhile, about 202,126 first doses and 63,575 second doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to healthcare workers and front line workers. Also, 82,221 first doses of the vaccine have been administered to the general population including people above 60 years of age and those between 45 and 59 years with co-morbidities.
Schools have been ordered to close and a night curfew has been imposed in eight districts namely, Ludhiana, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Patiala, to contain the spread of the disease, according to a report by news agency PTI.
