Covid-19 threat: All symptomatic in Punjab are having foreign travel history

An official monitoring the helpline said only 8-10 callers raise the coronavirus-related queries and others flag issues like lack of sanitation in their areas

On an average, 200 calls are being received daily at the state helpline number 104 started by the government for coronavirus-related queries, many of which are illogical, say officials.

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An official monitoring the helpline said only 8-10 callers raise the coronavirus-related queries and others flag issues like lack of sanitation in their areas.

“Many of these calls are hoax as people give wrong information about the whereabouts of the foreign travellers. But we are sending our teams to every location that a caller gives us about presence of foreign travellers,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the group of ministers formed by the Punjab government to monitor the situation on day-to-day basis is scheduled to meet on Thursday and discuss what advisory should be issued for functioning of crowded government offices.

All those found symptomatic to coronavirus in Punjab have a foreign travel history,

In what could be termed as a relief for the state government in tackling the possibilities of outbreak of Covid-19 in Punjab, there has not been a single symptomatic case till date without having history of travelling abroad.

As per figures available with the Punjab Health and Family Welfare department, total 117 samples of symptomatic patients have been tested till date and they all had come from foreign visits due to various reasons.

“This is a sigh of relief for all of us that not even a single person without having foreign travel history in past two months, had shown symptoms till date. It’s strengthens our claims of tackling spread of the diseases. All symptomatic patients had come from different foreign countries and they were released from the quarantine facilities only after ensuring no symptom of the virus,” Dr Gagandeep Singh, state nodal officer for Covid-19 told Hindustan Times.

Out of the total suspects, one patient was found positive for the virus whereas tests of 112 have turned out to be negative. Results of four samples are still awaited and the eight patients are still symptomatic as on Wednesday.

As per health department officials, till date, the Government of India has sent list of around 50,000 passengers who have visited Punjab in past two months.

While 109 patients were found symptomatic among these passengers, eight were located among another 95380 passengers screened at Amritsar Airport, International Airprot Mohali, Attari Border and Dera Baba Nanak Check post.

As per an official, out of 335 passengers, who could not be located because of wrong address in the performa which they had filled at International Airport at Delhi after their arrival, 191 have been contacted by getting additional information from their passport numbers and tickets, and they all had went back to their respective countries.

“335 were passengers and not suspects. They all had landed in India after thorough screenings at airports and calling them suspects is completely illogical,” said Health Minister Punjab Balbir Sidhu.

Not a single person without the foreign travel history has turned symptomatic among 117 suspects found till date; Most calls on 104 helpline illogical