16 vegetable sellers among 26 Sonepat patients; No community spread in Jhajjar

Jhajjar and Sonepat districts have witnessed spurt in Covid-19 cases in past one week and emerged as new hotspots. Sonepat has reported 46 cases in the last two days, while Jhajjar has seen 53 infections since last Monday

Among the 26 corona carriers detected in Sonepat, 16 are vegetable sellers who frequented Delhi’s Azadpur Mandi.

Jhajjar and Sonepat districts have witnessed spurt in Covid-19 cases in past one week and emerged as new hotspots. Sonepat has reported 46 cases in the last two days, while Jhajjar has seen 53 infections since last Monday.

Not too long ago, both these districts bordering Delhi were being praised for tackling the situation and containing the contagion, but the visits of locals to the national capital exposed them to the infection.

Of 53 cases seen in Jhajjar, 34 cases are linked to Delhi’s Azadpur Mandi. After vegetable sellers tested positive in Jhajjar, Sonepat health officials also focused on testing those visiting the mandi.

SAMPLES BROUGHT BY MOBILE VAN

Seven vegetable sellers from Gayaspur village, five from Pubnera, two each from Ram Nagar and Bega villages of district’s Ganaur block have been shifted by the Sonepat health department to the isolation ward of Bhagat Phool Singh medical college in Khanpur Kalan.

Sonepat Civil Surgeon BK Rajoura said all these cases were detected after a mobile van visited the villages of Ganaur block and took samples of vegetable sellers, who frequented Azadpur Mandi. “We targeted the vegetable sellers after many such vendors were found infected with Covid-19 in Jhajjar. The administration handed over a list of vegetable sellers to us and we visited them to collect their samples,” the civil surgeon added. The remaining cases include a female officer of Delhi Police, three women and two men from Sonepat and four men from Kundli.

WE ARE CONDUCTING RANDOM SAMPLING OF 300 PERSONS DAILY: JHAJJAR CIVIL SURGEON

Ruling out the possibility of community transmission in Jhajjar, civil surgeon Randeep Singh Punia said the customers of vegetable sellers tested in the district were not found infected.

“We have been conducting random sampling of over 300 people per day and none of the customers, who had bought vegetables from these vendors, were found infected. I can assure that there is no community transmission in the district yet,” he added. Health officials also took samples of vegetable sellers in Bhiwani, Dadri and Hisar, but none of them tested positive for the virus there as well.