CHANDIGARH, Mar 27: Punjab continued to witness an upward trend in COVID-19 cases with 2,820 fresh infections reported in the state, while 46 more people succumbed to the disease, a health bulletin stated on Saturday.
The number of active cases increased from 22,652 on Friday to 23,271 on Saturday.
The infection count rose to 2,28,864 in the state with 2,820 new cases, while the death toll reached 6,621 after 46 more fatalities were reported.
Ludhiana reported a maximum of 497 cases, Jalandhar 391, Mohali 374, Patiala 274 and Hoshiarpur 264, among others.
Of the 46 new fatalities, 11 deaths were registered in Hoshiarpur and eight in Patiala, among others.
A total of 2,141 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from infection, taking the number of cured persons to 1,98,972 in the state.
There are 25 critical patients who are on ventilator support, while 316 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said.
A total of 58,10,694 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it said.
Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan has asked all the departments concerned to ramp up the pace of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive.
During a review of the COVID-19 situation in the state, Mahajan said besides increasing the number of vaccination centres, the government is running an inoculation drive on all seven days of the week.
Referring to the recent approval by the Union government to also vaccinate all persons above 45 years of age from April 1, Mahajan asked officials to rope in more private facilities for increasing the ambit of the ongoing vaccination drive.
Meanwhile, Chandigarh recorded 294 fresh cases, taking the total count to 25,898 in the city.
The death of two more persons, including a 96-year-old woman, took the toll to 374, according to a medical bulletin.
The number of active cases rose from 2,392 on Friday to 2,532 on Saturday in the Union Territory.
The bulletin said 152 patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the number of cured persons to 22,992 in the city.
A total of 3,03,963 samples have been taken for testing so far and of them, 2,77,045 tested negative while reports of 168 samples are awaited, it added. (PTI)
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