To contain surge, Central teams in Punjab, Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 6

The Health Ministry today rushed a Central team each to Punjab and Chandigarh, which have been witnessing a surge in cases.

The teams will assist in improving containment, surveillance, testing and clinical management of Covid patients to reduce mortality apart from providing guidance on timely diagnosis and follow-up. The teams will remain stationed in the state and the UT for 10 days.

• Also read: Cases go up 3 times, Punjab battles it out
• Central team in Chandigarh for 10 days

The Punjab team consists of PGI (Chandigarh) community medicine expert JS Thakur and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Deputy Director Akshay Kumar. The Chandigarh team includes PGI doctor PVN Laxmi and the NCDC’s Sahil Goel.

Of the total 63,473 Covid cases in Punjab, 15,731 are active. The state has seen 1,862 deaths and the testing per million stands at 37,546 (India’s average is 34,593.1). At 4.97 per cent, Punjab’s positivity rate hovers at the lower cumulative spectrum.

Of the total 5,763 cases in Chandigarh, 2,250 are active. The testing per million and the cumulative positivity in the UT are 33,434 and 16 per cent, respectively.

Relapse new worry, 2nd case surfaces

Covid re-infection is emerging as a new area of concern with Bengaluru reporting relapse of the viral infection on Sunday just three days after Mumbai saw a similar case. A private hospital in Bengaluru confirmed Covid re-infection in a 27-year-old woman who had tested positive in July and had been discharged after recovery. On September 3, a Mumbai doctor tested positive for the second time in a month.

Meanwhile, India on Sunday saw a record 90,632 daily infections, overtaking Brazil to become the world’s second most Covid-hit nation. TNS

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