E-Paper
14 new Covid-19 cases in Chandigarh; 12 of them are from hotspot Bapu Dham Colony
In one week, 37 cases have been reported from the congested Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26, where the chain of transmission was first detected when a 30-year-old operation theatre attendant of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, tested positive
Fourteen people tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday taking the total number of confirmed cases in Chandigarh to 88. Amid the rising number of infections, the doubling rate in Chandigarh dipped to 4.7 days, from 30 days a week ago.
Twelve new cases were reported from the congested Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26, and one each from Sectors 15 and 30.
In Bapu Dham Colony, which accounts for 37 cases so far, the chain of transmission was first detected when a 30-year-old operation theatre attendant of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, who resides in the area, tested positive last Friday. The fresh cases are scattered over four households with six persons belonging to one household and remaining six to three different households.
They include a 36-year-old woman and 12-year-old boy, who are community contacts of a positive person. Five males, aged 5, 9, 17, 30, 35, and a female, aged 27, who are family contacts of another confirmed case, have also been found infected. Also, three infected males, two of whom are aged 40 and one 17, are household contacts of another confirmed case. A two-year-old boy, who is a family contact of another patient, is among those tested positive from this colony.
Also, a three-and-a-half-year-old child, who is a family contact of a positive case, has been found infected in Sector 30. A 67-year-old man from Sector 15, who was admitted to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research’s emergency ward on May 30, has also tested positive. His source of infection is being investigated. His eight family contacts and 13 community contacts have been identified for isolation.
Meanwhile, 65 more people have been identified for Covid-19 testing from Bapu Dham Colony. They will be sampled at Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16. Dr G Dewan, director, health services, said that 11,153 people in 2,541 households have been covered under house-to-house survey in the colony so far.
Also, inmates of Aashreya, a permanent home for the orphaned, destitute, abandoned and differently abled persons in Sector 47, tested negative on Friday. They were tested after a sweeper working there tested positive a day earlier.
In a worrisome trend in Chandigarh, out of every 14 people tested, one has been found to be Covid-19 positive. It translates to test positivity rate of 7.02%, much higher than the national average of 3.8%. According to data available till 5pm on Friday, out of every 25 people tested in India so far, only one person had tested positive. In all, 1,252 people have been tested in Chandigarh, of which 1,131 tested negative and 88 positive. Reports of the remaining suspected cases is awaited.
HOME QUARANTINE OF PATIENTS
Meanwhile, during the daily review meeting chaired by UT administrator VP Singh Badnore, it was decided that Covid-19 patients having no or mild symptoms wanting to stay at home instead of hospital will be allowed to do so, provided they have infrastructure for physical social distancing.
Arun Kumar Gupta, principal secretary, health, said regular coordination meetings are taking place with all the medical institutes with regards to such developments. Doctors of various medical institutions again expressed their apprehension regarding patients from outside coming to Chandigarh for emergency cases without prior Covid-19 checking. The administrator has directed Gupta to prepare a list of such cases, so that the matter could be taken up with the neighbouring states.
