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Covid-19: 7 more test positive in Punjab, tally 106
NO LET-UP Four cases detected at Mohali village, the new hotspot of infection in state, two in Jalandhar, one in Faridkot
Seven more persons tested positive for the coronavirus in Punjab on Wednesday, taking the total number of those infected by the disease in the state to 106.
Maximum four fresh cases were reported in Mohali’s Jawaharpur village which has emerged as the new hotspot of infection, with the district’s tally reaching 30. The four are the contacts of those found positive earlier as all 15 infected in the village so far are members of an extended family, the administration officials said.
They claimed to have launched an extensive contact-tracing and sampling campaign in the district to detect the spread of infection. The village was sealed in a bid to contain the spread of infection.
The state health department is trying to ascertain the primary source of infection in the village.
Jalandhar’s Mitha Bazaar area sealed
In Jalandhar, two more patients tested positive on Wednesday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the district to eight. A 59-year-old resident of the Mitha Bazaar locality of Jalandhar city was found positive in a random test. The patient is a quack, it was learnt.
District nodal officer Dr TS Sandhu said the patient got admitted to the local civil hospital three days ago with acute respiratory infection.
The district administration rushed a team to seal the Mitha Bazaar area as per medical protocol. Deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said civil and police administration teams will trace his contacts and put the family in quarantine.
In another case, a 50-year-old male resident of Nijatam Nagar locality in the city also tested positive for Covid-19.
He is the son of a 72-year-old woman who was tested positive on March 26 following which the entire family was put under home quarantine. She is undergoing treatment at the Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), Ludhiana.
He is learnt to have broken the quarantine norms by visiting a private hospital for check up on March 29.
On Wednesday, six staff members, including doctors, of the private hospital he earlier visited were kept in isolation. They, however, were found asymptomatic for the infection.
Punjab special chief secretary Karanbir Singh Sidhu tweeted, “Italian relatives visited them (at Nijatam Nagar) about 25 days ago.”
Faridkot patient is contact of infected money exchanger
In Faridkot, a 53-year-old man was also tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, making his the second person to have been infected by the disease. Police sealed the Main Bazar area in Faridkot city where the patient lives. Deputy commissioner Kumar Saurabh Raj said, “The locality was cordoned off as a preventive measure so that no outsider enters the area.”
Faridkot civil surgeon Dr Rajinder Kumar said, “He is the contact of the first Covid-19 patient of the district. His condition is stable now. The samples of 26 contacts of the second positive person have been sent for testing to Amritsar, while six samples of the contacts of first positive case are also sent for retesting,” he said.
“On Wednesday, the samples of the other 19 contacts, including his mother’s, were tested negative, while the result of one is awaited. The samples of his 29 contacts were tested negative on Tuesday,” Dr Kumar added.
On Saturday, a 35-year-old foreign money exchanger, who visited Delhi before the lockdown, had tested positive for Covid-19. However, his pregnant wife, mother and daughter were tested negative.
Kotkapura MLA goes into self-isolation
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s MLA from Kotkapura, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, quarantined himself at home, as had come into contact with the person who was found positive for coronavirus infection on Wednesday. “The person who has been tested positive is my relative and we met at recent gatherings. So I have decided to go into self-quarantine. This will also give a message to the people in my constituency about following the medical protocol. The health department officials have also taken my sample for Covid-19 testing,” he added.
3 of Banga man’s relatives recover
Three relatives of Baldev Singh, 70, a resident of Pathlawa village in SBS Nagar’s Banga sub-division who became Punjab’s first coronavirus casualty, were cured of Covid-19 in Jalandhar on Wednesday and were discharged from hospital. With this, 11 of his close contacts have recovered of a total of 27 people who contracted the infection from him.
The three discharged on Wednesday are Harjinder Singh, his wife Baljinder Kaur and son Hardeep Singh. The family belongs to Virk village in Phillaur sub-division of the district. Harjinder is the brother-in-law of Baldev Singh, who died on March 18.
