Patiala, May 12 -- Punjab has emerged as one of the country's worst-affected states for new HIV infections, ranking second only to Bihar.

According to the latest report by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), while India witnessed a 47% decline in annual new infections between 2010 and 2024, Punjab recorded a 58.7% increase with the annual new infections doubling since 2010.

The report, titled Sankalak: Status of National AIDS & STD Response, accessed by HT, highlights a disturbing trend wherein 56% of newly detected HIV-positive cases are linked to the use of contaminated syringes, pointing to the growing crisis of injectable drug abuse in Punjab.

The report states that while injecting drug users (IDUs) were the leading cont...