Bathinda: Rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Nazar Singh Manshahia and SP (headquarters) Satnam Singh were among five people who tested positive in Mansa district on Tuesday.
Officiating Mansa civil surgeon Dr GB Singh said a journalist and two Punjab Police constables were the other primary contacts of Punjab revenue minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar, who was tested positive hours after the Independence Day function.
Dr Singh said tracing of other contacts of the minister is underway. Several test reports are awaited and more samples will be collected in the next five days.
Sardulgarh sub-divisional magistrate Rajpal Singh and Mansa municipal council executive officer Vishal Jindal also tested positive on Monday.
Other top district functionaries of Mansa, including deputy commissioner Mohinder Pal, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Surendra Lamba, and additional deputy commissioner (general) Sukhpreet Singh Sidhu are among those in home quarantine after they came in contact with Kangar last week.
Meanwhile, a coronavirus positive undertrial Gurmeet Singh managed to flee from an isolation facility at Red Cross compound in Bathinda on Monday.
Bathinda deputy superintendent of police Gurjeet Singh Romana said the accused ran away from the toilet block. He had been arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in a theft case. Special teams are conducting raids to bring the Covid patient back.
On August 10, eight people being treated for coronavirus had also run away by scaling the wall of another isolation facility at Government Meritorious School in Bathinda. They were labourers from different states and had come to work at an oil refinery in the district.
{{/usCountry}}On August 10, eight people being treated for coronavirus had also run away by scaling the wall of another isolation facility at Government Meritorious School in Bathinda. They were labourers from different states and had come to work at an oil refinery in the district.
{{/usCountry}}Romana said the samples of all eight were taken on August 9 and two days later they tested negative.
“Though they were no longer Covid cases but we are trying to locate them for violating the Disaster Management Act and stepping out of the isolation ward without medical authorisation,” he added.