27 die of Covid, 731 +ve in Ludhiana

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 19

Covid-19 claimed the lives of 27 more persons — 15 women and 12 men — belonging to the district during the past 24 hours. Besides, the Health Department confirmed 731 fresh cases in Ludhiana and 98 cases from other districts or states.

Out of the 731 confirmed fresh cases, 52 persons came in contact with positive patients, 129 visited OPDs and 367 with influenza-like illness visited Flu Corner. The department is yet to trace the remaining 167 positive patients. Four healthcare workers, six undertrials, cop and four patients with a severe acute respiratory infection tested positive for the virus.

Civil Surgeon Dr Kiran Ahluwalia on Wednesday confirmed that 39 persons — 27 from Ludhiana, three from Sangrur, two from Fatehgarh Sahib and one each from Gurdaspur, Faridkot, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Muktsar, UP and Gujarat —died of the virus.

In Ludhiana district, one patient each from Majra Raho, Khanna, Vishnu Puri, Sham Nagar, Model Gram, Khud Mohalla, Madhopuri, Tajpur Road, Samrala Chowk, Pakhowal village, MIG flats, Dhandra Road, Maharana Partap Nagar, Jain Enclave, Subash Nagar, Amarpura, Daba Lohara Road, Haibowal Kalan, Janta Nagar, Bhamina Khurd, Jawahar Nagar Camp, Hargobind Nagar, Rishi Nagar, and Azaad Nagar have lost their lives. Besides, two patients each from BRS Nagar and Shimlapuri died due to the virus. All these persons from Ludhiana district were aged between 44-72 years.

A total of 12,02,246 samples have been collected to date, while 15,161 samples were collected today. The total number of confirmed cases in Ludhiana is 78,368, while 10,164 cases belong to other districts or states. According to the department, 1,788 persons of the Ludhiana district and 892 persons from other districts or states died due to the virus here. There are 11,373 active cases in the district. Currently, 55 patients — 30 from Ludhiana and 25 from other places — are on ventilator support.

Slight dip in daily cases: DC

Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma on Wednesday said the collective efforts of all stakeholders in the society and people’s support had started yielding results with Ludhiana witnessing slight dip in daily Covid cases.

Speaking to the residents of Ludhiana during weekly Facebook Live session on the official page of the DPRO, the Deputy Commissioner said, “Non-pharmaceutical intervention like curfew, tirelessly functioning by teams of civil and police administration and wholehearted support of people have slowed down the spread of disease but it does not mean we lower down guard.”

He said, “We all must keep obeying the Covid protocols till the war against Covid continues and if we all get the Covid jab we will be able to stop the third wave.”

He said, “The administration is keeping close vigil on the surge in rural areas and several teams have been visiting the villages daily to monitor the situation.”