12 pilgrims, 4 students test +ve in Punjab

The authorities have quarantined 56 pilgrims and 25 students, who returned from Nanded and Kota, in Ludhiana while test results of around 50 people were awaited.

Twelve pilgrims and four students, who have returned to Punjab from Hazur Sahib shrine in Maharashtra’s Nanded and Kota (Rajasthan), have tested positive for Covid-19 in Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, and Faridkot.

Two women and a child were found positive for the infection in Hoshiarpur’s Moranwali. In Faridkot, two women in their 60s were admitted to the isolation ward of the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital. (Photo by Diwakar Prasad / Hindustan Times)

Ludhiana’s civil surgeon, Dr Rajesh Bagga, said all patients from the district tested positive were asymptomatic. He said their reports have been received from Dayanand Medical College and Hospital and shared with the Indian Council of Medical Research, which will issue an official statement.

The authorities have quarantined 56 pilgrims and 25 students, who returned from Nanded and Kota, in Ludhiana while test results of around 50 people were awaited.

Two women and a child were found positive for the infection in Hoshiarpur’s Moranwali. In Faridkot, two women in their 60s were admitted to the isolation ward of the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital.

Civil surgeon Dr Rajinder Kumar said two of the 20 people, who returned to Faridkot from Hazur Sahib, have tested positive while reports of 18 others are awaited. “These pilgrims were quarantined at a government school after their return and we have initiated the contact tracing.”

Deputy commissioner Kumar Saurabh Raj said around 50 more people are expected to arrive from Nanded and they have made arrangements to quarantine them as well.

Around 3,000 pilgrims from Punjab had been stranded in Hazur Sahib after the imposition of the lockdown. They have been returning in batches.