56-year-old falls victim, 67 new Covid cases in Amritsar district

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 5

With the death of a 56-year-old man due to Covid-19 at Government Medical College here, the death toll increased to 86 in the district on Wednesday. The deceased has been identified as Iqbal Singh, a resident of Tej Nagar on the Sultanwind road.

The district also reported 67 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, taking the count of cases to 2,093. The number of active cases, however, was 491 and 1,516 persons have defeated the virus, with 25 recoveries reported in the past 14 hours.

New cases include 39 persons with influenza-like illness (ILI) and 27 contacts of positive patients. Of ILI cases, one each was reported from Abadi Kharak Singh Wali, Tej Nagar, Ujjagar Singh Nagar, Guru Hargobind Nagar, Diamond Avenue, Kathunangal, Indira Colony (Majitha Road), Gate Hakeema, Attari, Bhullar Village (Ajnala), Sudhar (Ajnala), Lopoke, Chainpur (Ajnala), Tarsikka, Guru Bazaar, Chitta Katra, Heir Village (Ajnala), Diamond Avenue (Majitha Road), Adliwal, Division E Police Station, Green Avenue, Rajesh Nagar, Ajnala, Mahal, Dashmesh Avenue, Rani Ka Bagh, Krishna Square, Chawinda Devi, Jujhar Singh Avenue, Gehri Mandi, Preet Nagar and Mattewal and two cases each were reported from Bharat Nagar on Batala Road, Preet Avenue and C-Block at Ranjit Avenue.

Contact cases include five from the BSF battalion posted at Khasa, four each from Majitha and Pawan Nagar on Batala Road, three from the Sultanwind Road locality, two each from Jandiala Guru, Preet Avenue on Majitha Road, Jujhar Singh Avenue and Baba Bakala and one each from Central Jail, Anngarh and Chehharta.

Rapid testing at Flu Corner

In order to fast track testing of suspected Covid patients, Government Medical College has started rapid testing at Flu Corner. Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Himanshu Aggarwal, the nodal officer for Covid centres, said test reports would be available within half an hour.

At a meeting with GMC principal Dr Rajiv Devgan, the ADC took notice of reports of hospital employees not wearing masks and told the principal to take a strict action against violators of safety protocols. It was also decided that a dialysis unit would be set up at the Covid ward for convenience of patients of kidney-related diseases. ADC Aggarwal also directed the hospital to set up a system to help patients interact with their family members. He suggested a room at the Covid ward be converted into a teleconference room for the purpose.

Come forward to donate plasma, appeals ADC

• The district administration has appealed to recovered Covid-19 patients to donate their plasma. ADC Himanshu Aggarwal, who is the nodal officer for Covid centres, said the plasma bank at GMC would become operational from next week. “We request all recovered persons to donate plasma to help us treat other infected patients,” he said.
• An 800 ml of plasma extracted from a cured person is enough to treat four patients. Aggarwal said a cured patient can donate plasma after 14 days of recovery. “Two consecutive tests of cured patient are done to ensure that he has fully recovered. Then tests are conducted to know about types of antibodies in the person's blood,” he said.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.