Six districts in Punjab have no active coronavirus cases

Six of Punjab's 22 districts have no active coronavirus cases as on Saturday, according to a government data.

The districts are: SBS Nagar, Moga, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala and Gurdaspur. The government data shows that the districts had a total of 31 patients, of whom 27 recovered while four died.

SBS Nagar was a hotspot of coronavirus with 19 patients. Eighteen of them have recovered and one has died.

Of the total 298 cases detected in the state as on Friday, 69 per cent were reported from Mohali, Jalandhar, Patiala and Pathankot.

Ludhiana reported maximum four of the 17 fatalities in the state, while Jalandhar, Mohali and Amritsar two deaths each.

The number of coronavirus cases in the state nearly doubled within a fortnight from April 10, the data said.

Punjab had 151 COVID-19 cases on April 10 and the number rose to 298 on April 24.

According to the data, the state tested 558, 532, 870, 693 and 1,161 samples on April 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 respectively.

The state has capacity of testing 1,274 samples daily. The government medical colleges of Amritsar and Patiala can test 400 samples each, Guru Gobind Singh medical college Faridkot 250, PGIMER Chandigarh 60, Institute of Microbial Technology 24, DMC Ludhiana 40 and Tuli Lab 100, according to the report.

The testing rate in the state is 358 per million which is lower than the national average of 417 per million.