DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Fifty-four more fatalities due to COVID-19 pushed the toll to 3,188 in Punjab while 1,588 new cases took the infection tally to 1,08,684 on Saturday. Ten deaths were reported from Mohali, eight from Jalandhar, six each from Ludhiana and Amritsar, five from Patiala, four from Sangrur and three from Pathankot, according to the medical bulletin. Two deaths each were reported from Barnala and Gurdaspur and one each from Faridkot, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Kapurthala, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar and Rupnagar. Among the places which reported new cases were Jalandhar (195), Ludhiana (172), Patiala (172), Mohali (153), Gurdaspur (147) and Amritsar (132). There are 19,483 active COVID-19 cases in the state, as of now, according to the bulletin. A total of 1,988 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from infection, taking the number of cured people to 86,013. Sixty-eight critical patients are on ventilator support while 422 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said. A total of 17,40,183 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it said. Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan has directed all the Deputy Commissioners to make more frequent visits to hospitals in their respective districts to review the arrangements and to ensure the best possible care to COVID-19 patients. These directions came in a video conferencing (VC) meeting with all the DCs, Commissioners of Police, SSPs, Commissioners of MC and Civil Surgeons to review the arrangements in the state hospitals. Asking the district authorities to strictly enforce the social distancing protocol to keep the spread of coronavirus under check, Vini Mahajan underlined the need to pay special attention in those districts where mortality rate is still very high. She said that the state government has already appointed COVID Patient Tracking Officers (CPTOs) to ensure coordination and expeditious response at the district level by tracking of patients. Asking the health department to intensify the efforts to prevent the dengue, the Chief Secretary directed the concerned departments to launch the awareness campaign on prevention of vector-borne disease. Urging the people to get themselves tested to save the precious human lives from the pandemic, the Chief Secretary directed the official to intensify awareness campaign to end the social stigma attached with the disease. All the front line employees especially health workers are selflessly serving the people. (editor@dailyworld.in)