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Son tests positive; Chandigarh Smart City official comes out clean
The Chandigarh Smart City Ltd (CSCL) official held various meetings with top officials of the UT administration, municipal corporation (MC) and others
Anxiety gave way to relief in the administrative echelons in Chandigarh on Sunday night after a senior Chandigarh Smart City Ltd (CSCL) tested negative for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
As it came to fore that the son of CSCL general manager NP Sharma had tested positive for the virus on Sunday morning, the administration was sent into a tizzy. Sharma had during the week held various meetings with top officials of the UT administration and municipal corporation (MC), forcing the authorities to start the process to identify them.
Sharma, 52, his wife, 48, and daughter, 21, were sampled at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16. Their reports returned negative as per the lab reports received from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).
Dr Gajinder Dewan, director, health services, UT, said as per the report received from PGIMER, three high-risk contacts of the sixth positive case (Sharma’s son) had tested negative.
A senior UT official, requesting anonymity, said, “Sharma visited the UT secretariat in Sector 9 multiple times over the last week before being quarantined after his son’s results. He also attended office last week.”
UT home secretary Arun Gupta had maintained that no one will be tested until Sharma’s reports were positive. “As per standard practice, only family members of the positive patient are to be tested,” he said.
SON HAD MET CITY’s FIRST POSITIVE PATIENT
Sharma’s son, 23, is the secondary contact of Chandigarh’s first coronavirus positive patient, a 23-year-old-woman from Sector 21. She and her brother had met the official’s son on March 16. The woman had tested positive on March 18 after returning from England on March 15.
Later, her brother also tested positive on March 20, after which Sharma’s son informed authorities about his contact with the siblings.
Sharma’s son was admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, on Saturday and his samples were tested at the PGIMER.
Health authorities have so far identified a total of 130 primary and secondary contacts of the first positive patient in the city. Of these, six have tested positive, including her brother, mother, cook, Sharma’s son, an employee of her father and a salon worker from Panchkula. The salon worker’s husband and younger son have tested negative. Reports of her elder son and daughter are awaited.
TWO NEW PATIENTS SAMPLED
A 25-year-old man from Chandigarh with history of exposure to Chandigarh’s first corona patient was also sampled at GMCH-32 on Sunday. Besides, a 72-year-old woman from Chandigarh with a travel history to Egypt was sampled at GMSH-16.
