Chandigarh
Punjab reported 39 deaths from coronavirus and 1,020 new cases, the state’s COVID bulletin showed—the highest single-day rise in fatalities the state has seen yet.
The development takes the state’s case tally to 26,909 cases with 675 deaths.
Twelve of 22 districts reported deaths, the bulletin showed. At 13, Ludhiana led in death count—a trend the district that has been seen since the beginning of this month.
Besides, Hoshiarpur (6) Amritsar (3), Barnala (1), Bathinda (1), Fatehgarh Sahib (1), Gurdaspur (2), Jalandhar (3), Pathankot (2), SAS Nagar (2), Patiala (4), and Sangrur (1) all reported deaths, the bulletin shows.
Ludhiana continued to report the highest number of cases in the state at 229. The district, along with Jalandhar (130) and SAS Nagar (104), accounted for 45 per cent of Wednesday’s cases. Amritsar (85), Patiala (70), Barnala (62), Gurdaspur (39) and Faridkot (36) also reported alarmingly high cases on Wednesday.
Punjab’s cases have been rising steadily all of August—about 40 per cent (10,790) of the state’s 26909 cases were added in just this month. In fact, the state has added over 7,000 new coronavirus cases to its tally in a week since August 6.
The state’s death toll has also risen significantly— almost doubling this month. The state’s coronavirus fatality count has risen from 386 at the end of July to 675 on August 12.
Just over 33 per cent of Punjab’s cases are still active.