Punjab moving towards community transmission as 27 coronavirus patients have no travel history: Capt Amarinder Singh

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday said that the State is moving into the stage of community transmission as 27 people, who were tested positive for coronavirus in the State, have no travel history.

At the community transmission stage, also known as Stage 3, a disease spreads in the population in such a way that the people don't know how they were exposed to the disease.

"In Punjab, 27 cases are there with no travel history. Yes, it can be said that most of them are cases of community transmission," Chief Minister Singh said during the video conference with the media.

Singh said that most of the 27 positive cases reported on Thursday, the maximum daily increase for the state, were the cases of secondary transmission. "It is an indication of the State moving into the stage of community transmission," Chief Minister Singh was quoted in an official statement issued after the video conference.

Singh said that there are 132 confirmed coronavirus cases in Punjab and the toll in the State stands at 11. He further said that one patient is on the ventilator and two are in the pre-ventilator stage.

"As of today, we have 132 confirmed COVID19 cases in Punjab, out of which 11 people have died. Currently, only one patient is on ventilator support, and two in the pre-ventilator stage where they only require oxygen," said Singh.

Punjab has in total of 434 operational ventilators. Out of which, 76 operational ventilators are in government hospitals and 358 in private hospitals.

Singh expressed concern that the government has so far collected only 2,877 samples for testing for a state, which has 28 million people, saying that "this is not much."

The Chief Minister said the projections by scientists and medical experts suggest the pandemic would peak in India by July-August, and around 58 per cent of Indians would get infected, with 87 per cent of people likely to get affected in Punjab.

In the circumstances, no government could afford to ease the restrictions, he said, asserting that "we have to check the spread of the infections." The state's preparations would be aligned to these projections, added Singh.