Punjab reports record 51 COVID-19 deaths, nearly 1,500 fresh cases

Chandigarh, Aug 17 () Punjab on Monday reported its highest single-day spike of 1,492 COVID-19 cases and a record 51 deaths due to the disease, the state health department said.

The COVID-19 death toll has mounted to 862 and the infection tally reached 32,695.

Fourteen new deaths were reported from Ludhiana, six from Patiala, five from Jalandhar, three each from Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran and Bathinda, two each from Amritsar, SBS Nagar and Sangrur, and one each from Barnala, Moga, Pathankot, Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Faridkot and Kapurthala, a medical bulletin said.

One death which was reported from Amritsar on Sunday was removed from the list as it was counted twice, it said.

Among districts which reported the fresh cases are Jalandhar (298), Ludhiana (220), Ferozepur (153), Bathinda (153), Patiala (130) Moga (91), Mohali (65), Barnala (62), Rupnagar (55) and Amritsar (50).

On Sunday, Punjab had reported 41 fatalities and 1,165 new coronavirus cases.

A total of 749 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection on Monday. So far, 20,180 people have been cured of the infection.

The state has 11,653 active COVID-19 cases, the bulletin said.

Thirty-eight patients are critical and on the ventilator, while 345 are on oxygen support, it said.

A total of 7,82,463 samples have been taken for testing so far in the state, it said. CHS VSD DPB