Covid: 21 new cases in Punjab

Punjab reported 21 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday that took the infection tally to 6,01,992, according to a medical bulletin.

With one Covid-related death reported from Ferozepur, the death toll reached 16,540. One death, which was not reported earlier, was added to the toll, it said.

Among the new cases, Ludhiana and Mohali reported four cases each, followed by three in Jalandhar and two in Ferozepur, according to the bulletin.

The number of active cases in the state stands at 228.

Twenty-six people recovered from the infection, taking the number of those who have been cured to 5,85,224, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, an official statement from the Punjab government on Friday said gatherings will be restricted to not more than 400 persons indoor and 600 persons outdoors subject to an upper limit of 50 per cent of the venue's capacity. Those organising and managing festival gatherings shall ensure that only that staff is physically present who are either fully vaccinated or have had at least one dose of vaccine over four weeks ago.

Earlier, the government had allowed an indoor gathering of 300 people and outdoor gathering of 500 people.

All bars, cinema halls, restaurants, spas, swimming pools, coaching centres, gyms, halls etc shall be allowed to operate at two-third of the capacity subject to all staff present being either fully vaccinated or having had at least one dose of vaccine over four weeks ago.

It further said passengers who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid or with negative RTPCR report of at least 72 hours shall be allowed to enter Punjab.

In case a passenger does not have either of these, RAT (rapid antigen test) shall be mandatory, it said.

Chandigarh reported two new Covid cases, taking the total infection count to 65,297, according to a bulletin.

The death toll stands at 820, it said.

The number of active cases in the city stands at 30 while the number those who have been cured from the infection was 64,447, it added.