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Chandigarh tricity sees record surge with 613 Covid cases, 14 deaths
Chandigarh led with 261 cases, followed by Mohali at 215 and Panchkula at 137
The Covid-19 pandemic continued its surge in the tricity, with record 613 cases and 14 deaths recorded on Sunday.
Chandigarh led with 261 cases, followed by Mohali at 215 and Panchkula at 137.
Also, Mohali district logged its highest toll with eight people succumbing to the virus. Panchkula and Chandigarh recorded four and two casualties, respectively.
The previous steepest surge was recorded just two days back on September 4, when 602 people had tested positive.
Tricity’s total tally has climbed up to 13, 723, of which 5,781 (42%) cases remain active. The toll stands at 210 while 7,729 (56%) patients have been cured. Mohali fares poorest in both fatality rate and recovery rate (see box).
The number of casualties in Mohali has now climbed to 107, 28 of which have been recorded in the past six days. As many as 65 had died in August alone.
Meanwhile, 215 fresh cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 4,882. Also 96 patients were discharged, after which the number of those cured and active cases stand at 2,518 and 2,257, respectively.
Dr Manjit Singh, civil surgeon, Mohali, said all those who died had comorbidities and were hospitalised for more than two weeks.
Six of them were undergoing treatment at Government Medical College and Hospital in Patiala. They included a 65-year-old man from Nayagaon, 64-year-old woman from Phase 2, and 60-year-old man from Kurali, all of whom were suffering from diabetes and hypertension. A 71-year-old man from Sunny Enclave in Kharar, and 41-year-old man from Mohali, both of whom had hypertension, besides a 45-year-old woman from Mubarakpur in Dera Bassi, who had high fever and stomach infection, were the other three casualties.
A 57-year-old man from Nayagaon, who was suffering from hypertension and was admitted to GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, and a Kharar woman, aged 55, who had diabetes and was undergoing treatment at the PGIMER, Chandigarh, succumbed too. Among the fresh cases, maximum were reported from Mohali city (87), followed by Zirakpur’s Dhakoli (42) and Kharar’s Gharuan (33).
2 dead in Chandigarh, 4 in Panchkula
The toll in Chandigarh climbed to 71 as two more deaths were confirmed on Sunday.
Also, a day after district education officer Harbir Singh Anand succumbed to the virus, two other senior officials of the department tested positive for it. In all, 261 fresh cases surfaced, which took the UT’s tally to 5,763. It was for the sixth consecutive day that more than 200 cases were reported.
Among those who died was a 58-year-old man from Dhanas, who also suffered from diabetes. The other was a 50-year-old man from Manimajra. He too suffered from diabetes and hypertension. Both deaths took place on Saturday, but were added to the tally on Sunday.
Meanwhile, 149 patients were discharged, including those in home isolation, taking the number of those cured to 3,439. As many as 2,250 cases remain active.
Panchkula district reported four deaths and 137 fresh cases, which also took its tally past 3,000 on Sunday.
While 3,078 people have tested positive so far, 1,772 of them have recovered and 32 have died, leaving 1,274 cases active.
A 14-year-old boy from Kundi and a 76-year-old woman from Mansa Devi Complex were among those who died. The other two were women, aged 52 and 56, from Nanakpur. All three women had comorbidities.
Two more UT education officials test positive
Chandigarh director of school education and higher education Rubinderjit Singh Brar and deputy director of school education Rajinder Kaur tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday. This comes a day after district education officer Harbir Singh Anand succumbed to the virus.
Brar, who had been unwell, hadn’t attended office since Wednesday. UT education secretary Sarpreet Singh Gill said: “We are proceeding as per protocol and around 20 employees of the department will be tested in the coming days. For the time being, the DEO office in Sector 19 and education department offices in Sector 9 will remain closed for sanitisation.”
Three more employees of the DEO office had tested positive along with Anand on Thursday. Earlier on July 5, the education department office in Sector 9 had been sealed for two days after a few employees tested positive.
