Punjab reports 1,035 cases, 36 deaths

Amarinder calls for vigorous contact tracing to contain virus spread

Punjab recorded 1,035 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, and reported 36 deaths, taking the fatalities to 706, according to an official statement.

The number of cases has mounted to 27,936. The major chunk of new cases, 222 and 176, were reported from Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts respectively. The Health department said there were 9,391 active cases and 17,839 had been cured so far.

Reviews situation

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday stressed the need for 100% testing in the micro containment and containment zones using Rapid Antigen Tests to keep the virus spread under check.

Reviewing the COVID-19 situation, the Chief Minister asked the officials to go in for vigorous contact tracing — of at least 10 contacts of each positive case. He ordered testing of persons with multiple contacts due to their occupations, such as shop and mandi workers and frontline government employees, within this week. He declared that this should be a “Testing Week.”

793 cases

Meanwhile, in Haryana, 793 fresh cases were reported, taking the total tally to 44,817. The State reported eight deaths, taking the total fatalities to 511. The major chunk of new cases, 136 and 119, were reported from Faridabad and Panipat districts respectively. There are 6,820 active cases and 37,486 patients have so far been discharged, said a statement.