DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab registered 600 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 31 deaths in a day while in Chandigarh 23 more people were infected by the virus during the same period, officials said on Saturday. The number of active cases in Punjab dropped to 8,077 from 8,829 the previous day while deaths were reported from many districts, including Amritsar, Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Of the fresh cases, Bathinda reported 95 infections, Jalandhar 55 and Fazilka 48. The state's positivity rate stood at 1.14 per cent. Punjab has so far reported 5,91,762 cases of COVID-19 and 15,802 deaths. With 1,315 recoveries, the number of cured persons has reached 5,67,883, according to a health bulletin. There are 168 critical patients who are on ventilator support, it said, adding 1,03,56,036 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state. Chandigarh reported 23 cases of COVID-19, taking the infection tally to 61,403. Two more people died of the infection, taking the toll to 806, according to a medical bulletin. The number of active cases in the Union Territory dropped to 396. With 78 patients being discharged following recovery, the number of cured people reached 60,201. A total of 5,49,803 samples have been taken for testing so far and of them, 4,87,151 tested negative while reports of 22 were awaited. With 60,753 new Covid cases being reported in a day, India's total tally rose to 2,98,23,546, while the number of active cases stand at 7,60,019, the lowest in 74 days, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll climbed to 3,85,137 with 1,647 fresh fatalities and active cases comprise 2.55 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.16 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. A total of 19,02,009 tests were conducted on Friday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 38,92,07,637, it said. The daily positivity rate was recorded 2.98 per cent. It has been less than five per cent for 12 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding that the weekly positivity rate has declined to 3.58 per cent. Recoveries outnumbered daily cases for the 37th consecutive day and the number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 2,86,78,390. The case fatality rate stands at 1.29 per cent, the data said. (editor@dailyworld.in)