143 contacts of P’kula Sector 15 woman traced; 99 test negative, 8 positive so far

Reports of 36 persons are awaited

The district health department traced and tested 143 contacts of the 44-year-old woman post office agent, a resident of Sector 15, who tested positive for Covid-19 on April 14.

Out of the total 143 contacts, 8 tested positive, 99 negative and reports of 36 persons are awaited.

The list included her immediate contacts, a private doctor in Sector 11, paramedical staff, persons from her neighbourhood, her colleagues in post office, relatives and some secondary contacts.

Panchkula civil surgeon Dr Jasjeet Kaur said 17 immediate contacts of the woman and 11 others, including the private doctor, his family and diagnostic staff tested negative. “Samples of woman’s in-laws were taken again, which however returned negative results. Also, 63 samples of woman’s other contacts, including those from neighbourhood, were taken and all of them have tested negative. Reports of some other samples including secondary contacts are awaited,” she said.

Dr Kaur said that they have also initiated sampling of other patients that visited the private doctor in Sector 11 from April 6 to April 14 for OPD consultations and also advised them to home quarantine themselves.

Meanwhile, the district reported no new Covid-19 case on Sunday, for the two consecutive days. A total of 12 persons tested positive from April 14 to April 17, taking the district’s count to 17.

Panchkula deputy commissioner (DC) Mukesh Kumar Ahuja said samples of 952 persons have been taken by the district health department out of which 17 tested positive and 731 returned negative results.

He said reports of around 175 persons are awaited and 745 persons have been quarantined at home, temporary shelters and other facilities in the district.

Activities in Panchkula to remain same as per existing lockdown guidelines

All activities in Panchkula will remain the same as per the existing lockdown guidelines, which were issued by the district administration.

Ahuja said the administration has not allowed any additional activity and all essential services as per the existing guidelines for lockdown will remain in place till May 3.

He said that no activity is permitted in the containment zone except for essential services and in non-containment zones, the standard operating procedures is to be followed and passes will be issued accordingly.

“If a person will apply for industrial or commercial activities, the administration will issue passes, but only to those who fulfil the conditions and follow certain standard operating procedures as directed by the Union ministry of home affairs,” said the DC.