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Ludhiana: Health dept traces 300 contacts who came in touch with 5 recent cases
Of the five positive patients, two, including a cop and a kanunngo, have died.
Following the deaths of assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Anil Kohli and revenue department kanungo Gurmail Singh due to coronavirus (Covid-19) disease, the health department is racing to trace their primary and secondary contacts.
While police identified 26 primary contacts of deceased ACP Kohli, as many as 70 people living in Payal Town, including 10 primary contacts, came in touch deceased the kanungo.
So far, the health department has prepared a list of 300 persons who came in contact with the five recent positive cases, of which two are dead, in the district. The contacts include children as small as nine months old and elderly over the age of 80.
Of these 126, are persons who came in contact with the Jodhewal station house officer Arshpreet Kaur and 53 of her driver, ASI Sukhdev Singh.
It is suspected that these cops came in contact with positive persons when they were deputed at the vegetable market. The police officers were also deployed at Jodhewal Basti to nab the Tablighi Jamaat members who had attended Nizamuddin congregation, to which a number of cases are linked.
The health department is also trying to trace the contacts of ACP Kohli’s driver Prabhjot Singh, who had managed to reach his native village after he, along with other cops, were asked to vacate their houses.
District mandi officer (DMO) Jasvir Kaur had also tested positive for the virus recently. Her contact list has left the health department worried. Besides coming in contact with the chairman of New Sabzi Mandi Darshan Lal, his son Arun Kumar, the office bearers of grain markets at Khanna, Doraha and Sahnewal, the DMO had also attended a religious ceremony at her residence on Ferozepur road last week. She had also met deputy commissioner Pradeep Agrawal, who has now gone into self-quarantine. He has, however, tested negative in rapid testing results.
The DMO’s daughter, who is a revenue department employee posted in Doraha, has also been kept under quarantine.
Meanwhile, cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and his wife Mamta Ashu also tested negative in rapid tests, conducted on Sunday. On being contacted, civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said that samples of all the people coming in contact with the positive patients have been collected.
The health department sent 77 samples for testing on Sunday, whereas the reports of 110 samples are pending so far.
MY FATHER WASN’T PROVIDED PROPER
TREATMENT: KANUNGO’S DAUGHTER
Two days after Kanungo Gurmail Singh lost battle to the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease, his daughter Jaspreet Kaur has alleged that Singh wasn’t provided proper treatment at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital. She stated that her father was not even provided food or water.
The hospital’s dean (academics) Dr Rajoo Singh Cheena said that the doctors and paramedical staff were hard-pressed in this crisis and were risking their lives to save the lives of others. “People should refrain from discouraging the medical staff in these challenging times,” said Dr Cheena.
