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Five staffers of Ludhiana tyre factory that reopened after relaxations found positive
Had resumed work on May 1 after Punjab government relaxed curfew restrictions for the industrial sector; Total nine factory employees found infected so far
Five more male employees of a tyre manufacturing factory in Ludhiana’s Focal Point area tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, taking the district count to 141.
Ludhiana civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said the samples of the five men were taken after their 64-year-old manager was found positive on May 6. On May 8, three other male employees had also tested positive.
The employees and the manager had resumed work at factory on May 1 after the state government relaxed the curfew restrictions for the industrial sector.
The tyre factory has been sealed to contain further spread of the virus.
The manager is admitted at Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), Ludhiana, where he remains on ventilator support.
A resident of Kabir Nagar, he suffers from hypertension, diabetes and asthma, and had complained of breathlessness, following which he was sampled at the civil hospital and later shifted to CMCH.
His wife and son had also tested positive, but are asymptomatic.
The employees testing positive on Wednesday are residents of Doraha, Payal, Miller Gunj, Dugri and Haibowal. They are aged 37, 25, 57 , 42, 41, respectively.
The other three employees are from Khanna, Dugri and New Sunder Nagar.
The factory owners were also tested, and were found negative.
SHARED OFFICE SPACE
According to the health authorities, the manager had been visiting the factory despite suffering from cough and fever.
Many of the eight employees found positive share an air-conditioned (AC) room, and as part of daily work, exchanged various documents and files, which may have resulted in them picking up the infection, said a health department official, whose team is tracking the manager’s primary and secondary contacts.
TRIO HAD VISITED PRIVATE HOSPITAL
The three employees found positive on May 8 had also visited Mohandai Oswal Hospital at Focal Point for a medical check-up on May 7. But, did not disclose that they had been sampled by the health department for Covid-19 testing. This caused anxious moments at the hospital, as news of their results spread.
The hospital authorities maintained that they had returned from the OPD after medical check-up.
Deputy commissioner (DC) Pradeep Kumar Agrawal said a total of 4,421 samples had been collected in the district, of which reports of 4,048 samples were negative and 141 positive. As many as 13 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital, while six patients have succumbed to the disease.
JAMMU MAN CREMATED
The 65-year-old Covid-19 patient from Jammu, who died at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on May 9, was cremated at Ramgarhia Crematorium near Dholewal Military Complex on Wednesday.
His cremation was carried out in the presence of two relatives. The patient, who hailed from RS Pura area in Jammu, had visited the hospital on May 1 and during treatment was found positive for Covid-19 on May 4.
TWO DMCH WARD BOYS POSITIVE: 160 EMPLOYEES QUARANTINED
After two ward boys tested positive in the past one week, DMCH authorities have asked 160 employees to remain under home quarantine for 14 days.
Hospital’s Covid in-charge Dr Ashwani Chaudhary said the employees were quarantined as a preventive measure.
Sources said besides the patient from Jammu, the staff had come in contact with three Ludhiana patients from Khanna, Rajpura and Faridkot, who were scheduled to undergo surgeries at the hospital.
