Punjab witnesses record single-day spike of 1,063 COVID-19 cases, 23 more deaths

Punjab reported 23 more COVID-19 fatalities on Friday, pushing the death toll due to the disease to 539 in the state, while a record single-day spike of 1,063 cases took its tally to 21,930.

Nine deaths were reported in Ludhiana, three each in Amritsar and Jalandhar, two each in Fatehgarh Sahib and SBS Nagar and one each was registered in Fazilka, Kapurthala, Patiala and Sangrur, according to a medical bulletin issued by the state health department.

According to the bulletin, a death reported from Ludhiana on Thursday was excluded as it was counted twice.

Ludhiana reported 296 new cases, followed by Patiala (122), Mohali (77), Jalandhar (70), Amritsar (67), Gurdaspur (53), Bathinda (49) and Pathankot (41).

A total of 381 coronavirus patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours. So far, 14,040 people have been cured of the infection in the state.

There are 7,351 active COVID-19 cases in Punjab now, according to the bulletin. Twenty-nine patients are critical and on ventilator support, while 117 are on oxygen support, it added. A total of 6,46,439 samples have so far been sent for testing in the state, the bulletin said.