Chandigarh, Jan 9 (PTI) Punjab's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 1,68,734 on Saturday with 255 fresh infections while the death toll surged to 5,439 as eight more people succumbed to the disease, according to a medical bulletin.

There are 2,952 active COVID-19 cases in the state, the bulletin said.

Mohali reported 61 new cases, Ludhiana 57 and Patiala 21, among other districts.

A total of 301 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the number of cured persons to 1,60,343, the bulletin stated.

Thirteen critical patients are on ventilator support while 96 are on oxygen support, it said.

So far, a total of 40,80,787 samples have been collected for testing in the state, it said. PTI CHS VSD

(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)