Sector-41 man among 6 fresh cases in Chandigarh take total count to 320

The 25-year-old developed symptoms after returning from Delhi; wives of two men who tested positive on Sunday besides three women from Bapu Dham Colony also found infected

A resident of Sector 41 who recently returned from Delhi and wives of two men who tested positive on Sunday are among six fresh cases of Covid-19 reported on Monday, taking Chandigarh’s total count to 320.

The remaining three cases — women, aged 25, 36 and 65 — have been reported from Bapu Dham Colony, which with 238 infections so far accounts for 75% cases of the city.

Meanwhile, 11 residents of Bapu Dham Colony have been discharged from the Covid care centre, taking the total number of recoveries to 285. The recovery rate stands at 89% as compared to the national average of 48%.

With five deaths so far, the number of active cases stands at 30.

In the first case to be reported in Sector 41, a 25-year-old man, who works in Delhi, was found infected after he returned home on June 2. He has been admitted to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. His three family contacts, who were found to be asymptomatic, have been quarantined.

In the past two weeks, there have been two more cases of infection found in people returning from other states or abroad — a 40-year-old man from Khuda Ali Sher who had travelled to Delhi and a 27-year-old woman of Sector 9 who returned from Canada. A 25-year-old man from Uttarakhand was also tested positive while visiting his mother in Chandigarh, but his case was not added to the local tally.

A senior epidemiologist at the PGIMER, who did not wish to be named, said while symptomatic cases are being detected, there is a need to test asymptomatic returnees as well, as they can act as silent carriers of the virus.

Meanwhile, in a case reported from Daria village, the 29-year-old wife of an infected Central Industrial Police Force (CISF) constable has also tested positive. The 33-year-old was posted at the Punjab Civil Secretariat. His three workplace contacts have been sampled. One tested negative while two reports are awaited.

The wife of a Manimajra businessman who tested positive on Sunday has also contracted the infection. Their son, however, tested negative. Even as the wife’s case has been added to Chandigarh’s tally, the UT administration is insisting on counting the man’s case in Panchkula’s tally as he was diagnosed with Covid-19 at the civil hospital in Sector 6, Panchkula.