Chandigarh admn changes strategy in Bapu Dham Colony: All residents in building with even one positive case to be tested

Arrangements have been made for those residents who want to go out of the colony and stay in a government facility

Almost a month since the first positive case surfaced in the congested Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26 here, the UT health department has changed the protocol of Covid-19 testing.

So far 147 people have tested positive in the containment zone that accounts for 67% cases in the city. (HT FILE)

So far, 147 people have tested positive in the containment zone that accounts for 67% cases in the city that has confirmed a total of 218 cases.

Till now only the family contacts of the positive persons were being tested, while the people living in the same building were only quarantined and tested only after they developed symptoms.

However, after fresh cases started surfacing in the area, the UT health department has now changed the strategy and decided to test all residents living in the same building as positive persons. According to a media bulletin issued by the health department, 58 samples were collected on site in the colony by a team from Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16.

“We have long felt the need to test all dwellers in a building where even one case has been reported. Usually there are around three floors in one building with a number of families living there,” said UT health secretary Arun Kumar Gupta.

Arrangements have been made for those residents who want to go out of the colony and stay in a government facility, he added.

Besides turning a school into a Covid care centre for the elderly and patients with other diseases, two more quarantine facilities, one in girls hostel number 8 of Panjab University and another at Government Model School, Raipur Kalan, have been established. The school will have approximately 300 beds, and the facility will be made operational from Saturday.