Amritsar district reports two more deaths, 14 new cases

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 27

With two more deaths due to Covid-19 here on Saturday, the toll has increased to 39 in the district. The district health authorities have also reported 14 new positive cases with which the total count has reached 910.

The deceased include a 65-year-old male, Sudhir Kumar from Prem Nagar on Daburji Road and 65-year-old female Sudesh Sharma from Rayya. The health authorities said Sudhir Kumar was also suffering from diabetes and hypertension. Sudesh Sharma was also a cancer (gall bladder) patient.

Of the new positive patients, nine are ILI (influenza like illness) cases while five are contacts of positive patients. The localities including Shastri Nagar, Vallah, Chowk Passion, SBI Bank Kotwali, Ajnala Road, Gulab Village (Ajnala), Prem Nagar, Gopal Nagar and Subham Green apartments, have reported one ILI case each. A contact case from Civil Hospital, one from A-division police station and three from Vigilance Bureau have also been reported.

Meanwhile, the number of positive cases in the district has nearly doubled within the last 21 days. The district had reported a count of 468 positive cases on June 6, which reached 910 on June 27. Astonishingly, the casualties due to Covid-19 have increased by nearly five times in the last 21 days. The death count in the district on June 4 was merely eight, which has now increased to 39. The spurt in casualties has already worried the authorities and they claimed that a review was being conducted to know the reason behind the high mortality rate.

No outcome of inquiry into poor PPE kits

Even after two months of the allegations of poor quality PPE kits and masks being supplied to the medical staff at Government Medical College, no outcome of the inquiry initiated in the matter has came to light. Apart from the medical staff, local MP Gurjit Singh Aujla, who had issued a grant of approximately Rs1crore for the equipment from his MPLADS fund, had also written a letter to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation demanding an inquiry. As the college had failed to complete the inquiry, Aujla had written a fresh letter on June 16 alleging deliberate delay in completion of probe. The ministry in its response has asked the Principal Secretary, Punjab State Planning Board, to take necessary action in a time-bound manner.