Coronavirus: Punjab reports 219 new cases, state tally now over 1,450

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 4

Punjab on Tuesday reported 219 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s infection tally to 1,451.

Gurdaspur (48), Tarn Taran (47), Fazilka (34), Faridkot (27), Sangrur (22), Muktsar (15), Ludhiana (14), Jalandhar (6), Kapurthala (5) and Patiala (1) all reported new cases, the state's evening bulletin showed.

About 73 per cent of Tuesday's cases---160---were pilgrims.

Fifteen migrant labourers were among those who tested positive on Tuesday.

Gurdaspur reported the highest number of case on Tuesday---of its 48 new cases, 41 of which were pilgrims who had recently returned from Nanded in Maharashtra. They had gone there to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Hazur Sahib and had been living together at the shrine complex.

One was a prisoner.

Gurdaspur's tally stands at 84.

Tarn Taran reported 47 new cases, of which 46 were pilgrims. One was a patient who recently came back from Jaisalmer. The development takes the district's tally dramatically to 87.

Fazilka had 34 new cases---33 pilgrims and one migrant---taking the district's tally to 38.

Faridkot saw 27 new COVID-19 positive cases. 22 of whom were Nanded pilgrims. The number includes a 5-year- old child.

The remaining were migrant labourers.

The development takes up the district's tally from 18 to 45.

Sangrur reported 22 more COVID-19 cases, a development that takes the district's numbers to 85. Twenty-one of them were pilgrims.

Kapurthala reported five new cases, all pilgrims. The district's infection tally now stands at 18.

Muktsar reported 15 new cases of the deadly disease, taking the total in the district to 64 One was a pilgrim, nine were migrants and three were policemen.

Among those who tested positive were two Assistant Sub-inspectors (ASIs) posted at the Malout (City) police station and one policeman of Chandigarh tpolice, who belongs to a Muktsar village.

Ludhiana reported 14 new cases, nine of which were pilgrims. Four were contacts of a previously diagnosed case and one was a new case with no known contacts diagnosed with the virus. The district's total stands at 134.

Jalandhar reported six new cases of the deadly disease, taking the district tally 134. Of these, three were pilgrims and one was a combine worker.  One other was a new case. 

The new patients have been quarantined at a center in Meritorious school.

Patiala reported one case, a contact of an already diagnosed person. This takes the district tally to 87.

A gangster, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, tested positive at Batala Civil Lines police station, leading to district authorities screening over 40 policemen, a superintendent of police among them, officials said.

This has yet to be added to the state's tally. 

Cases in Punjab have risen dramatically over the past week alone---74 per cent of the state's coronavirus infections have been recorded since Wednesday.

Eighty-seven per cent of the 1,076 cases registered over the past one week have a Nanded connection.

Amritsar has the highest number of cases in Punjab at 218. At 134, Ludhiana now has the same number of cases as Jalandhar. They are followed by SAS Nagar (95) cases, Hoshiarpur (88), Patiala (87) and Taran Taran (87) Sangrur (85), SBS Nagar (85), Gurdaspur (84), Muktsar (64), Faridkot (45), Ferozepur (42), Failka (38), Bathinda (36), Moga (28), Pathankot (27), Mansa (17), Fahegarh Sahib (16), Kapurthala (18), Ropar (14), and Barnala (19).

Ten districts---Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, SAS Nagar, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, SBS Nagar and Gurdaspur---account for over 69 per cent of Punjab's cases. 

Punjab also revised its death tally to 25---taking into its count two deaths recorded on Monday.

A 55-year-old Hoshiarpur man and a 22-year-old woman from Amritsar both died of the infection on Monday.

Also read: With 1200 migrants, Shramik Special train leaves Jalandhar for Jharkhand

Meanwhile, the first special train carrying 1,188 migrant workers stranded in Punjab left Jalandhar for Daltonganj in Jharkhand. Migrants across India have been left without work amid the lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.