The Punjab administration announced on Tuesday that the state’s Covid restrictions will be extended till July 10th. “With the discovery of instances of the Delta Plus version, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered the extension of Covid restrictions till July 10,” according to the Punjab CMO. However, certain further leniencies have been granted.
From July 1, bars, taverns, and ‘ahatas’ can operate at 50% capacity.
Punjab confirmed 271 new Covid cases on Monday, bringing the total number of patients infected to 5,95,136, with 18 additional fatalities bringing the total number of deaths to 16,011. Ludhiana reported 35 new cases, followed by Jalandhar with 26, and Hoshiarpur with 21.
There are now 3,639 active cases in the state. The optimism rate in Punjab is 0.67 percent.
On June 27, Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan directed officials to conduct rigorous testing and contact tracing in order to stop the spread of Delta Plus, a highly contagious form of Covid.
Ludhiana and Patiala have recorded two occurrences of the Delta Plus type so far.
The Delta Plus version exhibits a higher transmissibility, better binding to lung cell receptors, and a lower monoclonal antibody response.
The Medical Education and Research Department and the Punjab Health Systems Corporation will consider a proposal to build a whole genome sequencing equipment at Government Medical College in Patiala, according to the chief secretary (PHSC).
Mahajan directed health officials to closely monitor districts with high positive rates, as well as district epidemiologists to discover pockets within their districts that are reporting greater numbers of cases.
Punjab removed certain restrictions on June 15 since the number of cases has decreased in recent weeks.
