Record 40 fatalities push COVID-19 death toll in Punjab to 771

The COVID-19 death toll in Punjab reached 771 on Saturday with a record 40 fatalities, while 1,033 new cases took the infection tally to 30,041, according to a medical bulletin.

Twelve deaths were reported from Ludhiana, five from Tarn Taran, three each from Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala and Sangrur, two each from Amritsar, Kapurthala, Fazilka, Jalandhar, Moga and Mohali, and one each from Faridkot and Pathankot, the bulletin said.

Among the 1,033 fresh cases, 202 were detected in Patiala, 150 in Ludhiana, 86 in Mohali, 81 in Gurdaspur, 72 in Amritsar, 56 in Barnala, 53 in Sangrur, 46 in Jalandhar and 45 in Hoshiarpur. Punjab has been witnessing a surge in the number of coronavirus cases for the past few days.

A total of 535 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from infection on Saturday, taking the number of cured persons in the state to 18,863. There are 10,407 active cases in the state at present, according to the bulletin. Forty patients are critical and are on ventilator support, while 212 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said. So far, a total of 7,59,990 samples have been taken for testing in the state, it said.