Punjab sees 44 deaths, 2,669 cases in a day, highest this year

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

Punjab reported 44 deaths and 2,669 cases in the past 24 hours, the worst-ever for the state. This is the highest figure as far as both cases and deaths are concerned this year.

The first case of Covid was reported in March last year. Since then, the total number of cases has reached 2.13 lakh and 6,324 deaths have been reported. In January, the daily average of cases had come down to around 200. But now, over the past one week, an average 2,000 cases are being reported.

Among districts, Jalandhar reported the highest 393 cases in the last 24 hours, Ludhiana reported 330, SAS Nagar 327, Hoshiarpur 259 and Patiala reported 244 cases.

As far as deaths are concerned, Doaba continues to be the worst-affected region.

Hoshiarpur topped the chart with 10 deaths, followed by Ludhiana with eight deaths, Gurdaspur seven deaths, Jalandhar six, Amritsar five, Tarn Taran two and Ferozepur, Kapurthala, Pathankot, Patiala, SAS Nagar and Sangrur reported one death each.

The state government had recently closed all educational institutions other than medical and nursing colleges in the state till March 31 and issued stricter guidelines to contain the fresh surge. Night curfew has also been imposed in 11 districts from 9 pm to 5 am. The Punjab Police on Saturday acted tough on people not wearing masks at public places and made 4,400 violators undergo RT-PCR testing. In addition, 1,800 persons were issued challans. The police also distributed free face masks to over 12,000 persons.

CM Capt Amarinder Singh will hold a review meeting with the Covid Task Force after two weeks.

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