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Increase in cases with no contact history adds to Punjab’s worries
In at least 25 of the 158 coronavirus cases in state, the source of infection is not known; most such cases belong to densely populated urban areas
CHANDIGARH
Even as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has denied the start of ‘community transmission’ of Covid-19 in the country so far, Punjab has witnessed at least 25 cases till date, out of its total tally of 157, in which the source of infection is not known yet to health officials.
The fact that at least eight such cases were detected in the current week and most of them belong to densely populated city areas has added to the worries of state health officials.
On Saturday, seven new positive cases surfaced in Punjab and the health department does not have any contact history in two of these.
While one man, who tested positive in Patiala, was working as gardener at the house of a Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officer, the second is a truck driver from Dhar block of Pathankot district, who had returned from Gurugram to his village after the lockdown.
The Pathankot administration is also clueless about the original source of infection to 14 positive cases in Sujanpur town of the district. Seven out of these belonged to one family.
In this case, one young boy from the affected family had come from Chandigarh after the lockdown and initially, the health officials suspected him as the ‘main carrier’, but during the tests, the boy’s report came negative.
Later, the health officials even floated the theory that one NRI from Canada had visited the family in January this year and the family may have got the virus from the guest.
In Ludhiana district also, two such cases belong to city areas -- a woman from an influential family and a housewife who died on March 30. The source of infection is not known in both these cases.
In Jalandhar city too, health officials do not have any information about the source of the virus in three positive cases, in which the patients are a housewife, a hakeem and a youth working in a private hospital.
All these cases have been reported from densely populated city areas. One of these patients, Parveen Kumar who was working as hakeem, lost his life. Three family members of the deceased also tested positive later.
In Mohali, the worst-affected district of Punjab, the source of infection in two patients who have died is not known. One of these patients belonged to the Nayagaon area on the outskirts of Chandigarh and the second was from densely populated Kharar town. In the latter case, a 78-year-old woman was tested positive for coronavirus after her death.
Even as Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday stated that there was no trace of source of infection in at least 23 cases in the state, a senior health department official, however, downplayed the figures.
“We have 13 to 15 cases where the source of infection is not known yet. Still we can say that it’s the start of the first phase of the community spread,” the official said, seeking anonymity.
However, Punjab health and family welfare minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said it would be too early to comment on the ‘community spread’ stage. “Things would be clear in the coming eight to 10 days. Few cases in which the source of infection is not known is a cause of concern for all of us,” he said.
