As many as 200 Sikh pilgrims among 815 who went to Pakistan to celebrate Baisakhi festival tested positive for the novel coronavirus on their return to Punjab on Thursday. All the Sikh devotees had to undergo mandatory Covid-19 test at the Integrated Check Post (ICP), Attari, upon their return from Pakistan after their 10-day-long pilgrimage.
At the time of filing the report, 200 have been tested positive for the contagion, while the results of other devotees are awaited.
Before going to Pakistan, all 815 pilgirms were tested for Covid and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had conducted a special two-day camp on its premises as it was mandatory to have a Covid negative report procured 72 hours before departure to another country.
They were granted a 10-day visa by the Pakistan High Commission and were allowed to visit various Sikh shrines besides attending the main event held at Gurdwara Panja Sahib at Hasan Abdal on April 14.
They also visited Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, on April 19 and took out a nagar kirtan from Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district in Pakistan to the Zero Line sharing the border of Dera Baba Nanak on the Indian Side.
The State Health Department had stationed as many as four teams for conducting RAT tests on all devotees, many of them were seen protesting to undergo test. It has been learnt that many pilgrims allegedly manhandled the Health Department’s staff and even tore their records and many entered into heated verbal dual with them.
Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Amarjit Singh confirmed that a few devotees allegedly manhandled and misbehaved with their staff.
Those tested positive for Covid-19 had been advised for home quarantine and asked to strictly follow the Covid -19 guidelines as recommended by the Health Department.