E-Paper
Cases surge to 32 in Dera Bassi village, area now biggest cluster in Punjab
Six-month-old boy among the 10 new cases, all patients members of Jawarharpur panch’s extended family; Chandigarh cases now 19; no new case in Panchkula
Jawaharpur village in Dera Bassi confirmed 10 more coronavirus cases on Friday, leading the total number of cases to spike to 32, making the village the biggest Covid-19 cluster in Punjab.
A 78-year-old Mundi Kharar woman, who had died on April 7, was also confirmed positive for the virus, taking the Mohali district count to 48.
In Chandigarh, the cases — stable at 18 for the past eight days — rose to 19 on Friday with a Panjab University faculty member testing positive at the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital in Sector 16. He was later shifted to PGIMER.
Panchkula, with its count of five, did not register any new case. The number of positive patients in the tricity is now 72 (Mohali with 48 cases and Chandigarh with 19).
The 10 positive patients in Dera Bassi’s Jawaharpur village are all members of the extended family of the panch and sarpanch, who had tested positive earlier.
After the number of cases in the village rose to 22 on Thursday, 64 more samples were taken. Of these 10 tested positive, 32 negative and 12 reports are pending.
The state government has already declared the village, having a population of 3,000, a “containment zone”, completely banning movement of people. Besides, three neighbouring villages — Devi Naga, Mehmudpur and Haripur Kurha — have also been sealed.
The 42-year-old panch was the first to test positive on April 4.
The 10 fresh cases include seven women, two men and a six-month-old boy. Among the women, two are 53 and 52 years old, two are aged 32, and another 28. The men are 24 and 28 years old.
Mohali civil surgeon Dr Manjit Singh said all patients were admitted in Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur. Five Covid Commandos, a special group of Punjab Police constables trained as a quick response team for the pandemic, reached Jawaharpur village on Thursday to assist the health teams in collecting samples. Police check posts are monitoring people across the village.
Deputy commissioner (DC) Girish Dayalan said all patients were relatives of the panch and sarpanch, thus there was no case of community transmission. “Extensive sampling has enabled us to identify more positive cases within the village and isolate them timely,” he added.
He said all patients were responding well to treatment, and five of the total 48 patients had recovered and been discharged. “Residents are advised to comply with the curfew and stay indoors,” the DC said.
PU TEACHER CHANDIGARH’S 19TH CASE
A 40-year-old Panjab University teacher tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday after eight days of no new case.
Admitted at PGIMER, the Sector-37 resident has no established contact or travel history, and had complained of cough and mild fever.
“A faculty member of University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences has tested positive and is undergoing treatment at PGIMER. He has not attended office since the lockdown was announced,” a university spokesperson said.
“The patient’s X-ray report suggested that he had developed pneumonia, following which he was suspected for infection and sampled. He is diabetic,” a health official said.
“No contact or travel history has been established in the case reported on Friday. Further investigation in on,” Arun Kumar Gupta, principal secretary, health, told HT.
With this case, the total cases in Chandigarh have reached 19, of which seven have been discharged. Reports of four suspected cases are awaited.
The Panchkula health department collected eight samples of the kin of three men who had tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.
The trio had attended a Tablighi Jamaat event in Sikar, Rajasthan, last month. Two men, aged 18 and 37, are residents of Banoi Khuda Baksh village, while the third man, 80, is from Bakshiwala village in Pinjore block of the district.
Panchkula civil surgeon Dr Jasjeet Kaur said samples of four family members of the men aged 18 and 37 were taken and reports were awaited. “The villages have been cordoned off, and health teams screened villagers on Friday,” she said.
The first two cases in Panchkula, a salon worker and a nurse, are recovering. Dr Kaur said fresh samples of the women returned negative results. “As per protocol, their samples will be taken again after 24 hours. They may be discharged if the second sample also comes negative,” she added.
The first case was reported on March 21, when a 38-year-old salon worker, a resident of Kharak Mangoli village, tested positive. She had come in contact with Chandigarh’s first coronavirus patient who had visited her at a salon on returning from London. The second case was reported on March 31, when a 36-year-old staff nurse at Panchkula civil hospital tested positive. She had reportedly attended to the salon worker.
The district health department on Friday announced five villages, located in proximity of Dera Bassi on the Barwala side, as “buffer zones” to restrict the movement of villagers. Dr Kaur said, “As several positive cases have come up in Jawaharpur village in Dera Bassi, five villages in Barwala have been announced as buffer zones.” Besides, 18 villages in Pinjore in proximity of the Banoi Khuda Baksh village, where three men tested positive on Thursday, have been made containment areas as a precautionary measure.
