E-Paper
17 ‘hotspots’ identified in 9 districts
These hotspots include six areas in SAS Nagar, two each in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, and one each in Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Mansa, Pathankot and Rupnagar
CHANDIGARH The Punjab government on Sunday declared 17 areas in nine districts as “hotspots” for carrying out extensive screening and testing to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease that has infected 170 persons in the state.
These hotspots, where two or more Covid-19 positive cases have been found since the Covid-19 outbreak, include six areas in SAS Nagar, two each in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, and one each in Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Mansa, Pathankot and Rupnagar.
Among these areas, Jawaharpur village of Dera Bassi has the highest number of 37 cases followed by 15 in Sujanpur area of Pathankot, Pathlawa village of SBS Nagar district and six in Budhlada, Mansa district. The health department will carry out extensive testing with RT-PCR and rapid testing kits in these areas to break the chain of transmission, if any.
Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, official spokesperson of health department for Covid-19, said screening of the entire population would be carried out in these hotspots for symptoms. “Testing with RT-PCR will be done for those who are symptomatic for less than seven days whereas rapid testing kits will be used to test those who are symptomatic for more than seven days,” he said.
The state has been using the RT-PCR, or reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, test on nasal or throat swab samples of suspected patients. Dr Bhaskar said the list of hotspots would keep changing depending on new positive cases and completion of screening in certain areas. These hotspots will be in addition to the containment zones identified by the district authorities.
The rapid testing kits are, however, still not available. The state had requested the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for 10 lakh rapid testing kits and floated an inquiry in the open market for another 10,000 for extensive screening of people for coronavirus but these have not arrived so far.
