Covid-19: 20 more test positive in Punjab

Mohali reported the maximum 11 fresh cases among the districts, followed by Pathankot at eight and Jalandhar at one

Twenty persons were found positive for the coronavirus in Punjab on Friday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 151.

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Mohali reported the maximum 11 fresh cases among the districts, followed by Pathankot at eight and Jalandhar at one.

Of the 11 cases in Mohali district, 10 were reported from Dera Bassi’s Jawaharpur alone, with the number of those infected by the disease in the village reaching 32. As many as 48 cases have been reported in the district so far. Also, a 78-year-old Mundi Kharar resident, who died at the Kharar civil hospital on April 7, tested positive for Covid-19.

Of the samples of 64 persons taken from Jawaharpur village on Thursday, the reports of 32 were found negative while those of 12 were awaited. The Punjab government has the village declared a ‘containment zone’. Many of those infected are members of an extended family, including the village sarpanch.

In Pathankot, 15 persons have been found infected with the virus, making it the third most affected district after SAS Nagar and SBS Nagar.

Six members of a family in the Sujanpur town and their maid are among the new cases in Pathankot district. The family lives in the neighbourhood of a woman who died due to the infection on April 5. Six of her family were tested positive subsequently. Her contact mapping was done and scores of her near and dear ones were quarantined and tested.

Another case surfaced in Pathankot city’s Ananadpura Rara, a densely populated locality. The patient deals with newspaper distribution in the city.

Deputy commissioner GS Khaira said tracing of the contacts of positive patients is on to isolate them as soon as possible. “Sujanpur has emerged as a hotspot of the infection. We have divided the area into two zones — containment and buffer zones. A strict curfew is in place in the area,” he added.

In Jalandhar, a 17-year-old youth tested positive. With this, a total of 12 positive cases, including one death, have been reported in the district.

The patient is the grandson of a 72-year-old woman resident of Nijatam Nagar locality who was tested positive recently and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Ludhiana. Her 50-year-old son also tested positive on Wednesday.

Jalandhar nodal officer Dr TPS Sandhu said, “On Friday, we collected 43 samples of suspected patients, including close contacts of the four positive patients reported in the past two days. We quarantined people in 2,000 houses in different localities of the city where positive cases have been reported so far.”