10 days, 9K cases in Punjab, 70% with no signs

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 10

Though Punjab has witnessed almost 9,000 Covid cases over the past 10 days in what is being seen as the latest spike, the consolatory part is around 70 per cent of the patients haven’t reported any complications and are asymptomatic.

According to the state Health Department, a majority of the fresh cases were being tracked as the contacts of the already positive patients.

“There are only around 30 per cent patients who are developing some symptoms, the most common being fever and sore throat,” said Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, Punjab nodal officer for Covid.

But what’s worrying the health authorities is the late reportage of the infection. “A small number of cases are reporting serious symptoms. The problem, however, is such patients are coming to hospitals quite late, which limits their treatment options,” said Dr Bhaskar. A sudden rise in cases has been seen in the state after mid-July. The first case in Punjab was reported on March 8 and the count reached 8,800 till July 15. However, the cases surged three-fold in the last 25 days and touched 25,000.

The same goes with fatalities as from March till July 15, the state reported 221 casualties. But over the next 25 days, the death toll shot up to 604.

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