Punjab’s SBS Nagar loses ‘corona-free’ tag; 6 dists have no patient under treatment

Chandigarh, April 25

Punjab’s SBS Nagar on Saturday fell off a list of six COVID-19-free districts in the state after a 25-year-old truck driver hailing from there tested positive for the coronavirus infection, the state government’s data revealed.

Despite the SBS Nagar dropping off the list, Punjab managed to retain its tally of six-COVID-free districts with Kapurthala joining the infection free-club of five other infection-free districts—Moga, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala and Gurdaspur.

All these six districts presently have no corona-infected patients undergoing treatment at present, the government data revealed.

A 25-year-old truck driver contracted coronavirus in SBS Nagar on Saturday, official said adding the patient was a resident of village Boothgarh in Balachaur sub-division in SBS Nagar, formerly known as Nawanshahr.

SBS Nagar witnessed a new COVID-19 case almost after a month. It had not seen new coronavirus patient since March 26.

Earlier, eighteen patients in SBS Nagar, which had been declared a coronavirus hotspot, were discharged from civil hospital after they were fully cured of the infection. One death was reported in SBS Nagar.

Moga, Kapurthala, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala and Gurdaspur districts had reported total 15 cases and of them, 11 were fully cured of the infection while four COVID-19 patients succumbed to the virus, as per data.

One patient in Kapurthala was discharged from hospital, becoming the latest district where there is no coronavirus patient left under treatment now.

Punjab reported a total 308 coronavirus cases till Saturday evening.

Out of total 22 districts in Punjab, Fazilka, Tarn Taran and Bathinda have not reported any COVID-19 case so far, as per data available.

Four districts—Jalandhar (66), Mohali (63), Patiala (61) and Pathankot (25) — have reported 70 per cent of total coronavirus cases in the state, as per data.

Among total 17 deaths in the state, Ludhiana reported maximum four fatalities while Jalandhar, Mohali and Amritsar reported two COVID-19 related deaths each.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases nearly doubled within the fortnight, as per data available.

Punjab had reported 151 COVID-19 cases on April 10 and the number of total cases rose to 298 as on April 24.

Punjab has also expanded the daily sample testing in the past several days.

According to data, the state tested 558, 532, 870, 693 and 1,161 samples on April 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 respectively.

Punjab has now a daily testing capacity of 1,274 samples with government medical colleges of Amritsar and Patiala each able to test 400 samples, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College Faridkot 250, PGIMER Chandigarh 60, Institute of Microbial Technology 24, DMC Ludhiana 40 and Tuli Lab 100, the official figures revealed.

Punjab’s testing rate is 358 per million, which is lower than the national average of 417 per million. — PTI