DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab on Monday reported 178 coronavirus-related fatalities, taking the toll to 13,468, while 4,539 fresh cases raised the infection count to 5,43,475, according to a medical bulletin. The number of active cases dropped from 57,505 on Sunday to 54,996, the bulletin said. The state'+ char(39) +'s single-day recoveries of 6,803 were also in excess of the daily infection count on Monday. Seventeen deaths were reported from Patiala, 16 from Sangrur, 15 from Ludhiana and 14 from Bathinda, among fatalities registered in the past 24-hours. Ludhiana registered 507 new cases, followed by 401 in Mansa, 340 in Amritsar and 334 in Jalandhar. The state'+ char(39) +'s COVID-19 positivity rate stood at 6.51 per cent, according to the bulletin. The recovery count rose to 4,75,011 with new recoveries, it said. There are 387 critical Covid patients who are on ventilator support, 1,011 other critical patients and 6,743 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said. A total of 87,75,622 samples have been collected for COVID-19 testing so far in the state, it said. The Union Territory of Chandigarh registered 245 fresh Covid cases on Monday. The city has been steadily witnessing a drop in the number of daily infections. The infection tally stood at 58,734, according to a medical bulletin. Seven more people died of the infection, taking the toll to 709. The number of active cases dropped from 4,874 on Sunday to 4,428, the bulletin said. With 684 patients being discharged after recovering from the infection, the recovery count reached 53,597 in Chandigarh, according to the bulletin. A total of 4,88,182 samples have been taken for COVID-19 testing so far and of them, 4,28,251 tested negative while reports of 34 samples were awaited, it said. Fresh COVID-19 infections in India dipped to 2,22,315, the lowest in round 38 days, pushing the total tally of coronavirus cases to 2,67,52,447, while the death toll crossed the 3-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 3,03,720 with 4,454 daily deaths, the data updated at 8 am showed. (editor@dailyworld.in)