Chandigarh, May 3 (IANS) In the steepest spike recorded in the state in 24 hours, Punjab on Sunday recorded 331 new coronavirus cases, with the total climbing to 1,102, a health bulletin said.

Of the 331 cases, 326 were returnees from the famous Sikh shrine in Maharashtra's Nanded, who came back last week after remaining stuck for nearly a month.

In the past five days, Punjab recorded 728 cases -- a majority of them Nanded returnees.

Amritsar district recorded the highest corona cases for the second day in a row. It recorded 75 new cases, with the total patients now reaching 218.

Six districts -- Amritsar, SBS Nagar (62), Hoshiarpur (46), Muktsar (43), Bathinda (33) and Gurdaspur (24) ---accounted for 85 per cent of the new cases.

With the demise of two more patients, the state's death toll rose to 21.

--IANS vg/tsb