Migrant worker dies of COVID-19 in Punjab; 13 fresh cases take virus tally to 322

A 48-year-old migrant worker died of coronavirus in Punjab's Jalandhar, pushing the death toll to 18 in the state, an official said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the number of infected patients soared to 322 with 13 more people testing positive for the infection.

The victim, who worked at a leather factory, died at a Jalandhar hospital on Saturday, an official said, adding that he had pneumonia too.

He originally belonged to Maharashtra and was living in Jalandhar for the past several years.

According to a medical bulletin, 12 of the fresh cases were reported from Jalandhar while one was detected in Ludhiana.

Jalandhar district topped the COVID-19 tally in the state with 78 cases, followed by 63 in Mohali, the bulletin said.

Of the remaining cases, 61 have been reported from Patiala, 25 in Pathankot, 20 in SBS Nagar, 18 in Ludhiana, 14 in Amritsar, 13 in Mansa, seven in Hoshiarpur, four in Moga, three each in Rupnagar, Sangrur, Kapurthala and Faridkot, two each in Fatehgarh Sahib and Barnala, and one each in Muktsar, Gurdsapur and Ferozepur.

One patient is critical and still on ventilator support, the medical bulletin said, adding that so far 18 people have succumbed to the infection in the state.

It said 14 patients-eight from Mohali, four in Pathankot and two from Ludhiana--were discharged from hospitals, taking the total number of cured cases to 86 in the state.

There are 218 active cases in the state, it said.

A total of 14,317 samples have been taken so far in the state, of which 10,497 tested negative negative for the infection. Reports of 3,498 samples are still awaited.