68 more succumb to virus in Punjab

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 13

At least 2,628 fresh Covid cases and 68 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours in the state, taking the caseload to 79,679 and the total fatalities to 2,356.

As the cases continue to rise, Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan on Sunday assured private hospitals partnering the state in the fight against Covid of all possible help from the government to address their concerns, including availability of drugs and PPE kits and disposal of bio-medical waste.

The Chief Secretary gave the assurance during a video-conference interaction with all private hospitals that are working as equal partners with the state government in treating Covid cases in 22 districts of the state.

Representatives of more than 100 private health facilities assured the government of their full support in combating the pandemic and offered to add as many beds as may be needed for the care of Covid patients in the state in order to save lives.

Meanwhile, 57,536 patients have recovered from the virus and at present 19,787 cases are active in the state. Besides, 501 patients are on oxygen support and 91 are on ventilator support.

In district wise break-up of cases reported today, SAS Nagar topped the chart with 433 cases, followed by Patiala (327), Ludhiana (274), Gurdaspur (260), Jalandhar (252), Amritsar (188), Bathinda (104).

As far as deaths are concerned, Amritsar was the worst-hit with 11 deaths; Patiala (10), Bathinda and Jalandhar (6 each), Ludhiana (5), Kapurthala (4), Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, SAS Nagar, Pathankot and Sangrur (3 each), Mansa, Moga and Ropar (2 each), and Barnala, Faridkot, Gurdaspur, SBS Nagar and Tarn Taran (1 each).