4 jamaat attendees among 11 new cases in Punjab

In the past three days, Covid-19 has spread its tentacles in seven more districts and Punjab now has prevalence of the virus in 14 districts out of 22.

Punjab on Monday recorded 11 new Covid-19 positive cases, including four Jamaat attendees, taking the state’s tally to 79.

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The additions include four new cases from Tablighi Jamaat — two women from Fatehgarh Sahib, and a man from Ludhiana and a teenager from Kapurthala.

Kapurthala made its entry to the list of district having at least one positive case. As per the media bulletin issued by department of health and family welfare department, among the positive patients, two patients are serious, and one is on ventilator.

In the past three days, Covid-19 has spread its tentacles in seven more districts and Punjab now has prevalence of the virus in 14 districts out of 22.

The new districts where cases have appeared since April 3 include Mansa, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Pathankot, Barnala, Kapurthala and Faridkot.

Out of total 79 cases, 11 are attendants of Tablighi Jamaat. Punjab has identified 468 participants of the event out of which 416 have been traced. Figures shared by Punjab’s special chief secretary KBS Sidhu on Twitter revealed that 406 samples of Jammat participants have been collected out of which 276 have tested negative whereas reports of 119 are awaited.

Two Fatehgarh Sahib women who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi last month tested positive for coronavirus on Monday and they have been shifted to isolation facility at Gian Sagar hospital in Banur.

. As a precaution, the Fatehgarh Sahib administration has sealed three villages — Mainaili, Sahanipur and Sangol — in the Khamano sub-division, around 12km from the district headquarters.

Moreover, the health department has indentified 145 close contacts of the two women, who are aged 50 and 65.

Civil surgeon Dr NK Aggarwal said both the women attended Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi from March 10 to 13 and came to Sahanipur village on March 14. “They hail from Aurangabad in Maharashtra and had come to Fatehgarh Sahib along with four other women and five men to meet their relatives here,” said Aggarwal.

He added that their group stayed at Sahanipur village till March 17 before shifting to Sangol village and then moved to Mainaili village on March 22.

The civil surgeon said the three villages have been sealed and door-to-door survey has been started. “We have identified and quarantined 145 persons who came in contact with them in these villages and collected samples of 17 persons for further testing,” he said.

The department has quarantined 64 persons from Sangol, 46 from Mainaili and 35 from Sahanipur.

In Kapurthala, a 17-year-old boy who recently attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation has tested positive for coronavirus. Kapurthala civil surgeon Dr Jasmit Kaur Bawa said the boy’s samples were taken by the health department with the help of the police on Friday and his report came on Sunday night.

A total of 33 people from the district had attended the Nizamuddin congregation. Samples of 22 of them were sent for testing on Friday. The reports of 21 others were found negative.

Bawa said the boy, who was staying in a mosque along with other jamaatis, has now been admitted to the isolation ward of the local civil hospital.

People linked to the Nizamuddin gathering, which has emerged as a hot spot of Covid-19, have been quarantined in the mosque.

In Ludhiana, a 59-year-old man from Chowki Mann village of Jagraon sub-division in the district, who had recently returned after attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, tested positive for coronavirus on Monday.

Ludhiana civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said it is the first Covid-19 case from Jagraon area. He said the test reports of nine family members of the patient are awaited.

The patient and his family members have been kept in the isolation ward of the civil hospital in Ludhiana. The police have sealed all the entry points of the village.

The district has so far recorded a total of seven Covid-19 cases.

In Mohali, the son of man who attended the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi’s Nizamuddin; and three family members of a panch, tested positive on Monday.