Punjab’s COVID-19 death toll rises to 39; tally 2,028

Chandigarh, May 21

A two-month-old boy died of coronavirus in Punjab, taking the death toll to 39, while 23 fresh infections pushed the total number of cases in the state to 2,028, officials said on Thursday.

The infant, who was suffering from pneumonia, died at a hospital in Amritsar on Wednesday, a health official said in Amritsar.

His test report came back positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, the official said.

Four pregnant women in Gurdaspur district were among 23 fresh coronavirus cases that were reported on Thursday.

The women tested positive in Batala, taking Gurdaspur district’s case tally to 129.

Of the 23 fresh cases, seven were reported in Hoshiarpur; five in Amritsar; four in Gurdaspur; two each in Ludhiana and Pathankot; and one each in Barnala, Kapurthala and Patiala, a medical bulletin said.

Batala senior medical officer Sanjiv Bhalla said two pregnant women are among the four who tested positive for COVID-19 in the city.

The pregnant women have been admitted to an isolation ward, he said.

The other two women gave birth on May 19, Bhalla said.

Blood samples of the two newborns would also be taken for testing, he added.

According to the bulletin, 25 coronavirus patients -- 13 from Jalandhar; eight from Muktsar; two each from Fazilka and Mohali—were discharged after recovering from the infection.

With this, the total number of cured persons in the state has reached 1,819.

There are 170 active COVID-19 cases in the state, the bulletin said.

Amritsar has the maximum number of COVID-19 cases in the state at 313, followed by 210 in Jalandhar, 171 in Ludhiana, 155 in Tarn Taran, 129 in Gurdaspur, 105 in SBS Nagar, 104 in Patiala and 102 each in Mohali and Hoshiarpur.

Sangrur has reported 88 cases, Muktsar 65, Faridkot 61, Rupnagar 60, Moga 59, Fatehgarh Sahib 56, Fazilka and Ferozepur 44 each, Bathinda 41, Kapurthala 34, Mansa 32, Pathankot 31, and Barnala 22.

A total of 59,618 samples have been taken for COVID-19 testing so far in the state. Of these 53,871 samples are negative and reports of 3,719 are still awaited, the bulletin said. — TNS/agencies

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