Chandigarh, Jul 29 (PTI) Chandigarh on Wednesday reported 44 fresh cases, maximum in a day, taking the infection tally to 978 in the Union Territory.

Six members of a Khuda Lahora area family, including a two-year-old girl, five of a sector 44 family and four members of a Dhanas family were among new cases, said the UT's daily medical bulletin.

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The fresh coronavirus cases also surfaced in many other parts including sector 40, sector 49, sector 47, sector 22, sector 42, sector 7, sector 41, sector 19 and Kishangarh area of Chandigarh.

Twelve coronavirus patients were discharged after they recovered from infection. A total of 611 people have been cured so far, as per the bulletin.

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A total of 13,327 samples have been taken for testing so far and of them, 12,284 tested negative while reports in 62 cases are awaited, the bulletin said.

A total of 14 people have died of Covid-19 so far in the city. There are 353 active cases as of now.

Meanwhile, a WHO representative, Srinivasan Selvamani, on Wednesday called on UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore here and presented his report on the review of containment strategies at the Bapu Dham colony.

In this detailed report, he appreciated the timely action of Chandigarh Administration in containing the spread of infection in the colony.

The WHO representative also appreciated the strict perimeter control and setting up of rapid response teams as the part of containment strategy, said a government release here.

The efforts of the administration for aggressive contact-tracing and quarantine of contacts was cited as the best practice which could be imitated by other states and UTs, it said. Selvamani also appreciated the quick action of the Health Department in setting up a local dispensary, which remained open round-the-clock for screening the total population of Bapu Dham colony.

The report also appreciated the administration's success in ensuring regular supply of essential commodities including milk, vegetables at door-steps.

Meanwhile, the UT Administrator directed the principal secretary (Health) to focus on micro-containment areas and enhance contact tracing, particularly focusing on the source of infection.

Manoj Parida, Adviser to Administrator said there will be micro-containment zones after mapping of new cases coming up in different sectors and areas.

This will enable the administration to control infection without causing much hardship to the neighbouring areas, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)