DW BUREAU / chandigarh Punjab on Saturday reported 23 more fatalities due to COVID-19, pushing the toll to 562, while 998 fresh cases took the state's infection tally to 22,928. Twelve deaths were reported in Ludhiana, three in Patiala, two in Amritsar and one each in Barnala, Jalandhar, Mohali, SBS Nagar, Rupnagar and Sangrur, according to a medical bulletin. Among districts which reported the fresh cases are Ludhiana (168), Patiala (139), Jalandhar (120), Amritsar (102), Mohali (91), Bathinda (72) Gurdaspur (50) and Sangrur (32). A total of 820 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection. So far, 14,860 people have been cured of the infection. The state now has 7,506 active COVID-19 cases, the bulletin said. Twenty-six patients are critical and on ventilator, while 123 are on oxygen support, it said. So far, 6,59,284 samples have been tested for the disease, it said. Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the Punjab government performed far better to curb the spread of Coronavirus as compared to other states which has resulted in less loss of lives as compared to other states. Sidhu said that under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Punjab Capt. Amarinder Singh, various departments of the Punjab Government were united in the war against Corona. Due to tireless efforts being made government, Punjab has 3.1 positivity rate of cases which is less than the country. He said the infection rate was one of the most important criteria set by the World Health Organisation to measure the spread of corona. Describing the statement of Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Harpal Singh Cheema for adopting the Delhi model as childish and contemptible, Sidhu said that the Leader of Opposition should keep his advice to himself as Punjab was in a better position than Delhi. He said that before making this statement, Cheema should have verified that due to the miss management of the Kejriwal government, 10 per cent deaths of the country have been reported in Delhi alone. He said that the number of deaths in Punjab was 539 which was only one per cent as per the country's death toll. Most of them are related to co-morbidity.Sidhu said that on the directives Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, thousands of medical and para medical staff were being recruited to expedite the fight to defeat Corona in the state. He further said that Harpal Cheema should not forget that the Kejriwal government had also announced that they would not treat people who were from outside Delhi also proved to be running away from its responsibilities whereas the Punjab government has treated hundreds of patients from Delhi. The Health Minister said that hundreds of videos of such incidents in Delhi have gone viral which clearly testifies the poor management of the Delhi government. He said that it was shocking even to imagine the current critical situation of Delhi where the common man was seeking help and going from one hospital to another just to give samples for a corona test but there was no one from the government to address their problems and grievances. Responding to two incidents raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Sidhu said that the news published by a Hindi newspaper that two bodies had been lying on the floor for 12 hours and another had been suffering for hours was baseless. The newspaper has already published its clarification, he said. (editor@dailyworld.in)