City Covid count crosses 500 mark

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 8

Eighteen days after the city recorded 400 cases of Covid-19, its tally breached the 500 mark today. With 15 fresh cases, the UT Covid count reached 507.

The city had reported its first case on March 18. It crossed the 500 mark in 112 days. The surge in cases is due to people returning to the city after the interstate restrictions were eased.

Six of a family from Sector 49, including two females, were found infected today. A 54-year-old woman from Mani Majra too tested positive. Her 15 family contacts have been sampled for the Covid test.

A 57-year-old man from Sector 19 and a 47-year-old man from Sector 44 too contracted the virus. Each of them having three family contacts, who are asymptomatic.

Three family members of a patient from Sector 20 — two men, aged 59 and 44, and a 53-year-old woman — are among the new cases reported today.

A 25-year-old woman, who is a workplace contact of a Covid patient from Punjab, also tested positive for the contagion. She is a resident of Sector 45.

A 57-year-old woman and a 29-year-old youth from Sector 43, who work in Punjab, too have contracted the virus.

The city has 98 active Covid cases spread across 34 sectors and villages. Approximately 36 per cent of the city’s active cases are from peripheral areas while the remaining are from sectors.

The maximum active cases (8) are in Sector 41. Bapu Dham Colony, which was a Covid hotspot in the city earlier, has left with three active cases now. No case has been reported from the colony since June 5.

Meanwhile, the UT Administrator has directed health officials to ensure that the teams going for screening should carry oximeter with them so that oxygen level of the person being tested could be checked instantly. This could help in detecting the severity of infection if any.