E-Paper
119 Nanded pilgrims among 143 test positive in Punjab
A total of 296 Nanded-returnees have tested positive in the state so far
Punjab on Friday reported 143 coronavirus positive cases, including 119 Hazur Sahib pilgrims, who were brought back from Nanded in Maharashtra over the last few days, taking the state’s tally to 687. A total of 296 Nanded-returnees have tested positive in the state so far.
The maximum number of cases --- 61 --- are from Amritsar, including 60 Nanded-returnees, and a National Health Mission (NHM) worker, who was assigned the duty of transporting blood and throat swab samples of Nanded-returnees to Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Amritsar.
Patiala and Ferozepur districts reported 24 fresh cases each. All 24 infected people in Patiala and 18 in Ferozepur came back from Hazur Sahib recently.
Patiala civil surgeon Dr Harish Malhotra said all the positive case are asymptomatic and are being shifted to an isolation ward.
Health authorities say 21 pilgrims are from different parts of Patiala district, while one each from Jalandhar, Sangrur and Gurdaspur districts.
In Ferozepur, 24 persons, including 18 pilgrims from Nanded and six who returned from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, tested positive. Of the 75 pilgrims who arrived from Nanded at Jalalabad in Fazilka district, four were found positive.
JALANDHAR CROSSES 3-DIGIT MARK
Jalandhar district added 16 new cases to its tally on Friday. With this, it became the first district in Punjab to cross the three-digit mark. Health officials said of the positive cases, six have no travel history, eight are close contacts of positive cases, and one infected persons is Nanded-returnee.
SIX NEW CASES IN MOHALI
Five more persons who returned from Takht Hazur Sahib in Nanded, while one from Jawahapur village in Dera Bassi tested positive for Covid-19 in Mohali on Friday, taking the total count to 92 in the district.
Among the pilgrims, a 56-year-old woman, her 20-year-old son and 70-year-old woman, all residents of Khanpur in Kharar, a 30-year-old-man from Badala and 40-year-old woman from Choti Nangal in Kharar were tested positive for the virus. A 20-year-old, son of a “panch”, who was first person to be infected in village Jawahapur, also tested positive for coronavirus.
A 54-year-old Moga resident, who returned from Nanded, tested positive for coronavirus in Ludhiana on Friday, taking the districts count to six.
The man, a resident of Budh Singh Wala village in Baghapurana sub-division in Moga, was admitted to the isolation ward of Ludhiana’s civil hospital.
Civil surgeon Dr Andesh Kang said, “The Ludhiana health department has confirmed that a Hazur Sahib pilgrim of Moga was tested positive for Covid-19. During the departure from Hazur Sahib, a Moga resident mistakenly boarded the Ludhiana bus. He was quarantined at Ludhiana along with other Nanded returnees after their arrival.”
SIX NEW CASES IN FATEHGARH SAHIB
Six, including five Nanded pilgrims, tested positive for the virus in Fatehgarh Sahib. Civil surgeon Dr NK Aggarwal said 13 samples were collected of those returned from Hazur Sahib. “Five persons have been tested positive and they have now been shifted to isolation ward of Gian Sagar Hospital, Banur,” he said. Meanwhile, a combine operator from Makhupur village also tested positive.
