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4 fresh cases take Chandigarh’s Covid count to 174
The test results of a 62-year-old person who died at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, on Saturday night, also came back positive
With four new Covid-19 cases reported on Sunday, the total count in Chandigarh has reached 174, which is almost double the 88 cases reported at the beginning of the month.
A Sector 40 resident, who is a doctor at the civil hospital in Rupnagar, is among the fresh cases. UT health officials said he was working in the hospital’s laboratory and was also involved in taking samples of Covid-19 suspects, the likely source of infection. This is second case in Sector 40.
In fact, 46 health workers of the Rupnagar civil hospital, including seven from Mohali, tested positive on Sunday evening. The Mohali district count, now, stands at 105.
The remaining three cases of Chandigarh are from Bapu Dham Colony, the Covid-19 hotspot in Sector 26 which now accounts for 75% active and 63% total cases of Chandigarh with 110 infections.
Those tested positive on Sunday are a five-year-old boy, who is a family contact of an infected person, and two males, aged 45 and 11, who are community contacts of another positive person. This has led to 56 community contacts and four family contacts of these people being put into quarantine.
TEST POSITIVITY RATE MORE THAN NATIONAL AVERAGE
The overall test positivity rate (positive cases per total tests conducted) of Chandigarh has shot up to 8% as against the national average of 3.8%. This rise can be attributed to the two congested pockets of Bapu Dham Colony and Sector 30.
Since the first case came to the fore in Bapu Dham Colony on April 24, the UT health department has conducted around 1,408 tests in which 143 persons have been found positive, accounting to a worrisome test positivity rate of 10%.
The department on Sunday confirmed the death of a 62-year-old man of the colony, who had tested positive posthumously on Saturday. He had suffered a cardiac arrest three years back for which he had undergone angioplasty and angiography.
COOPERATE WITH ADMN: IMA
The Indian Medical Association, Chandigarh, has appealed to the people to cooperate with the administration to limit the further spread of infection in the city.
In a press statement, Chandigarh IMA president Dr Rajesh Dhir stressed that coronavirus was highly contagious and could spread through asymptomatic persons too. “Strict hand hygiene, maintaining social distancing norms and using face masks in public places have been found to be effective in preventive its spread,” he said.
