High COVID-19 mortality rate has left Punjab harried as the state has reported 72 deaths in the last four days with 19 of them in the last 24 hours. The death toll in state now stands at 442 with the highest being reported from Ludhiana at 115 followed by 85 in Amritsar and 55 in Jalandhar. The state health authorities have held delay in seeking medical care by patients as a key reason behind increasing mortality. According to state health advisor Dr K.K. Talwar, the patients despite having symptoms approach for testing or hospitalisation when condition deteriorates beyond control.
The state, meanwhile, has recorded 677 fresh COVID cases on Monday, taking the active cases tally to 6,203 with 50 per cent of the cases reported in the last four days. Among those tested positive is 5-year old TikTok sensation Noorpreet Kaur alias Noor who became a star during lockdown with 1.5 million followers. Daughter of a labourer at a brick-kiln, she wanted to tie rakhi to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. As per the requisite, she underwent COVID testing along with her father before meeting the CM. Both father and daughter tested positive.
Later, the CM tweeted a video of his conversation with Noor: “Spoke to our little star Noor on Rakshabandhan. Happy to share that she is doing fine and I am sure she and her father will beat Covid19 soon. Already looking forward to meeting you.”
Spoke to our little star Noor on Raksha Bandhan. Happy to share that she is doing fine and am sure she and her father will beat #Covid19 soon. Already looking forward to meeting you. God Bless! pic.twitter.com/U2KG7W8MVd
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 3, 2020
The Punjab government will be setting up four new COVID testing labs to boost the testing rate in the state. The state has reported almost 10 per cent positivity rate in the last four days as 3,078 new cases were registered against 31,845 tests.
