Two blocks of Panjab University sealed after employee tests positive for Covid-19

The employee was posted at the university’s re-evaluation branch; Chandigarh’s Covid-19 tally touches 420

Two Panjab University buildings — Aruna Ranjit Hall and administrative block — were sealed after a female employee tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

Workers sanitising the administrative block at Panjab University, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. (Keshav Singh/HT)

Another woman, a 38-year-old from Khuda Lahora, also tested positive on Wednesday, taking the count of infections in Chandigarh to 420.

The 37-year-old PU employee, a resident of Sector 29B, works at the re-evaluation branch located in Aruna Ranjit Hall. She had last attended office on June 19.

The university spokesperson said around 30 contacts of the employee, including three family contacts that lived on the campus, had been identified and asked to remain in quarantine as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, the UT health department has also indentified 10 workplace contacts — six from Chandigarh, three from Punjab and one from Panchkula. They have been put under home quarantine.

According to health officials, the PU employee is a relative of an already positive patient, who hails from Himachal Pradesh and is admitted at PGIMER.

PU registrar professor Karamjeet Singh said as an employee posted at the re-evaluation branch was found infected and it was suspected that she and her family may have come in contact with employees of other branches, Aruna Ranjit Hall and the administrative block had been sealed and sanitised as a precaution.

In the meantime, all officers posted in these blocks will seek information from their charges as to whether they had any contact with the employee.

Of the 420 confirmed cases in Chandigarh, 322 have recovered and six have succumbed to the virus. The city now has 92 active cases.