Punjab on Wednesday reported five new cases of COVID-19 — three from Mohali, and one each from Ludhiana and Amritsar — taking the state’s total tally to 46.
Among those tested positive include a 10-year-old girl and her 74-year-old grandmother from Mohali Phase-IX belonging to the family of Chandigarh NRI couple who were tested positive on March 30. District’s third case was reported from Jagatpura village where the 55-year-old man was tested positive after he came in contact with the Chandigarh Sector-30’s 22-year-old mechanic who had returned from Dubai and tested positive on March 27.
“The whole area is being sealed. A total of three teams are tracing their contacts and testing besides doing door to door survey,” he said.
Mohali Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said that all the three found positive for corona virus disease are stated to be close contacts of Chandigarh positive cases, and they have been immediately put under quarantine and the tracing of their contacts is on.
Mohali Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh said that the man has been admitted to the isolation ward at Gyan Sagar Hospital in Banur and is stable. He said that they had also taken samples from the affected areas for testing.
Dayalan said that 13 samples of the close contacts of 65-year-old man, who died on Tuesday from corona virus, have been found negative.
Another positive case was reported from Ludhiana where 72-year-old female, living in adjoining house of a lady who succumbed to COVID-19 in Patiala hospital, has been tested positive. She has been shifted to Ludhiana Civil Hospital. However, the deceased daughter, Pooja, has been tested negative.
The State has, till date, witnessed four deaths while one patient has recovered, after testing as many as 1260 persons, of which 1149 have been tested negative and reports of 65 are awaited.
Out of total 46 confirmed cases, maximum 19 are in Nawanshahr, 10 in Mohali, six in Hoshiarpur, five in Jalandhar, three in Ludhiana, two in Amritsar and one in Patiala.
PADMA AWADREE TESTED POSITIVE
The 62-year-old Padma Shri awardee and former ‘Hazoori Raagi’ at Amritsar’s Golden Temple Nirmal Singh on Wednesday tested positive for coronavirus.
On his return from the UK in February, he was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital after he complained of breathlessness and dizziness on March 30. “The report of his samples came positive today,” said Amritsar Civil Surgeon Prabhdeep Kaur Johal.
Meanwhile, the police have sealed the area around Singh’s residence to check the spread of the infection. Besides, the authorities are ascertaining the details regarding his travel history and events.
Awarded Padma Shri in 2009, Singh had also attended many religious events, including accompanying Zakir Hussain, the tabla player, to Golden Temple on February 29. This is a day after Zakir Hussain performed at a jam packed Patiala auditorium as part of the Patiala Heritage Festival on February 27, a day after which he visited Amritsar.
The health department officials maintained that his family members and others who came into his contact would be quarantined.