One person dies of COVID-19 in Punjab, total deaths stand at 19

A 63-year-old woman in Patiala died of coronavirus on Monday, taking the total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 19 in Punjab, officials said.

The coronavirus positive woman, who was undergoing treatment at the Rajindra hospital in Patiala, died of the virus, official said.

Eight more persons, all of them pilgrims who returned from Nanded in Maharashtra, tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total count of confirmed cases to 330 in the state.

According to a medical bulletin released on Monday night, five persons belonged to Tarn Taran and three hailed from Kapurthala.

Coronavirus patients was detected for the first time in Tarn Taran. The source of their infection is likely from outside Punjab, said the medical bulletin.

The first batch of pilgrims, who were stuck at Hazur Sahib in Nanded, have returned to their respective places in the state.

Around 4,000 pilgrims from Punjab, who had gone to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Hazur Sahib in Nanded in Maharashtra, had been stuck there because of the lockdown.

But after the Union Home ministry intervened at the instance of the Punjab government and the Akali Dal, all these pilgrims are now being brought to their home state.

Apart from them, 2,900 labourers, belonging to Punjab, are returning to the state in buses from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, where they were stranded in five relief camps, an official statement said.

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