Covid deaths rose in Punjab last week, positivity remained 0.1%

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 14

In what appears to be a cause of concern, the Covid deaths have once again risen in the state last week, the government has confirmed.

In the week between August 3 and 9, 26 persons died of the virus, which was 7.4 per cent of the total positive patients, as compared to 16 Covid deaths reported in the state between July 27 and August 2 at the rate of 4.6 per cent case fatality rate (CFR), the official figures have revealed.

However, Ludhiana reported only two deaths last week — one each on August 6 and 7.

Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, who reviewed the Covid situation recently, said the district officials have been instructed to keep a close watch on the positivity rate ahead of the festival season when extra vigil is required to prevent the resurgence of the virus.

The current status of Covid in the state analysed by the Health and Family Welfare Department, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that the Covid positivity rate remained static at 0.1 per cent between August 3 and 9 as it was recorded between July 27 and August 2.

While the number of active cases also went down from 473 on August 2 to 441 on August 9, the number of positive cases slightly increased from 346 between July 27 and August 2 to 352 between August 3 and 9.

In Ludhiana, 43 fresh Covid cases were reported last week with single-day highest figure of 13 on August 6. The count of active cases in the district went up from 51 on August 2 to 54 on August 9.

The count of discharged patients came down from 470 between July 27 and August 2 to 358 between August 3 and 9, while the number of samples tested in the state also registered a decrease from 2,52,210 between July 27 and August 2 to 2,45,823 between August 3 and 9.

The cumulative figures as on August 9 revealed that 1,24,21,036 samples have been tested in the state till then of which 5,99,514 persons had tested positive at the positivity rate of 4.8 per cent and 16,320 had succumbed to the virus at the CFR of 2.7 per cent. Of the total Covid patients, 5,82,753 had since been discharged after having recovered from the virus.

While the CFR has been on the rise, the positivity rate has registered a steep decline in the state since June last week.

The CFR varied from 6.3 per cent between June 22 and 28 to 7.7 per cent between June 29 and July 5, 6 per cent between July 6 and 12, 6.3 per cent between July 13 and 19, 9.1 per cent between July 20 and 26, 4.6 per cent between July 27 and August 2 and 7.4 per cent between August 3 and 9.

However, the positivity rate dipped drastically from 0.7 per cent between June 22 and 28 to 0.5 per cent between June 29 and July 5, 0.4 per cent between July 6 and 12, 0.3 per cent between July 13 and 19, 0.2 per cent between July 20 and 26, and 0.1 per cent from July 27 to August 9.

Similarly, the count of active cases also recorded a major decline from 3,639 on June 28 to 2,118 on July 5, 1,494 on July 12, 953 on July 19, 637 on July 26, 473 on August 2 and 441 on August 9.

The number of positive cases also decreased considerably from 2,505 between June 22 and 28 to 1,437 between June 29 and July 5, 1,185 between July 6 and 12, 695 between July 13 and 19, 453 between July 20 and 26, 346 between July 27 and August 2 and 352 between August 3 and 9.

Also, the discharge figure came down from 5,159 between June 22 and 28 to 2,824 between June 29 and July 5, 1,717 between July 6 and 12, 1,170 between July 13 and 19, 728 between July 20 and 26, 470 between July 27 and August 2, and 358 between August 3 and 9.