No travel or contact history, Chandigarh health dept clueless how PU teacher got infected

The 40-year-old man, a resident of Sector 37, was tested positive on Friday and is admitted at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research

Tracking the source of infection of the city’s 19th positive case – a Panjab University teacher - has become a challenge for the UT health department, as the patient has no travel or contact history.

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So far, seven contacts have been tested, of which two – a friend and a milkman — have come out clean.

Results of his wife, 32, mother-in-law, 64, two daughters (an eight-year-old and a 22-day-old infant) and a man, who works at a booth in Sector 37, are awaited.

The 40-year-old man, a resident of Sector 37, was tested positive on Friday and is admitted at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

“We have not traced the source yet. It’s difficult in this case because the patient says he did not come in contact with any person with travel history or any other positive patient. So, how do we establish where he got the infection from?” said UT health secretary Arun Gupta, while refusing to comment on whether this was a case of community transmission.

An MC official said they had traced 113 primary and secondary contacts, including residents of two neighbouring houses, and placed them under home quarantine.

“We are trying our best to find more contacts to trace the source of infection. It will be quite worrisome if the source is not ascertained,” said Dr Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER.

The patient’s wife had delivered a daughter at a private hospital in Sector 38 on March 20. On this, Gupta said, “The patient last visited the hospital on March 23 and it has been 18 days since. Had he contracted the infection from there, he should have shown symptoms within 14 days, which did not happen. But, we have still advised the hospital to quarantine the staff who came in contact with him on March 23.”