Infant among 4 dead, toll rises to 55 in Punjab

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8

With four more deaths, including that of an eight-month-old child in Amritsar, the state count of casualties due to Covid-19 has reached 55.

Three victims are from Amritsar district and one from Patiala. It is the highest single day toll in the state so far.

An eight-month-old child, Sukhdeep Singh of Gopalpura Manjwind village, was admitted to the pediatric department at Government Medical College, Amritsar, with fever cough. The child was shifted to the ICU. His Covid test had come positive. He expired this evening.

The other two deceased are Sat Pal, a 78-year-old resident of Sharma Colony, and 60-year-old Arjun Kumar of Katra Sher Singh locality in Amritsar. Both were suffering from co-morbidities, said health authorities.

The fourth patient was a 46-year-old resident of Nabha, who died at Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, last afternoon. The deceased was an employee of a private company. He was taken to Nabha civil hospital from where he was referred to Patiala on Saturday.

Dr Harish Malhotra, Civil Surgeon, Patiala, said, “The patient did not have any travel history. He, however, had diabetes and other ailments. We have already collected samples of his close contacts.”

Meanwhile, 55 new Covid cases came to the fore in the state on Monday. As per the media bulletin, 14 cases were reported from Jalandhar, 12 from Amritsar, nine from Ludhiana, five from Patiala, three each from Pathankot and SBS Nagar, two each from Faridkot, SAS Nagar and Sangrur and one each from Fazilka, Gurdaspur and Moga.

With 14 new cases in Jalandhar, the district tally has risen to 307. For the third consecutive day, two children are among those who tested positive.

Amritsar district remained the worst hit with cases rising to 481.