Punjab Police cop among four test positive in Chandigarh, tally goes up to 374

All his four family contacts are asymptomatic, but have been sampled.

A 43-year-old Punjab Police constable was among the four fresh Covid-19 cases reported on Thursday, taking Chandigarh’s tally to 374. As many as 62 of these cases are active.

A police vehicle sanitising the vegetable market set up at the Sector-17 ISBT in Chandigarh Thursday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Health officials said the cop, who lives in Sector 43, tested positive after he was admitted to Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, with severe acute respiratory infection. The source of infection is unknown.

“He last attended work a week ago. All his four family contacts are asymptomatic, but have been sampled. He has seven workplace contacts too,” UT’s media bulletin said, without stating whether the workplace contacts will also be tested. However, officials said they had been quarantined.

Two more family contacts of the couple, who returned from Uttar Pradesh and were found infected, have also tested positive. They are a 32-year-old woman and a one-year-old girl from Sector 31.

The fourth patient is a 30-year-old man from Manimajra. He has travelled to Amritsar on June 9 and returned to Chandigarh on June 11. He developed fever on June 13 and was hospitalised on June 16.

Officials said his 12 community contacts had been shifted to institutional quarantine.

Of the 374 cases confirmed in the city, 306 have been discharged, a recovery rate of 81.8%. The city has recorded six deaths due to Covid-19, a fatality rate of 1.6%.