More than three weeks after the curfew was imposed across Punjab amidst coronavirus scare, the State Government has initiated the process of mass screening and testing. A day after starting the rapid testing facility from Mohali and Jalandhar districts, the Government has started testing of all residents in Patiala’s municipal limits, and house-to-house screening in Amritsar. Punjab’s tally of corona positive cases stands at 186 on Wednesday with maximum 56 and 25 positive cases reported from Mohali and Jalandhar respectively — the two districts having the maximum of eight hotspots.
Even as Patiala and Amritsar has reported three and 11 cases respectively till date, the decisions, taken by the respective District Administrations, was aimed at checking the community transmission, and further spread of the deadly virus.
Unable to trace the source of infection of the three positive cases reported so far in the district, Patiala Administration has decided to screen all its residents in the municipal limits — becoming the first district to do so. As per the Health Department, all the three cases in Patiala neither had any travel history nor they have come in contact with any other COVID-19 patient — a development indicating at the possibility of community transmission.
On late Tuesday evening, a 50-year-old resident of Safabadi Gate of Patiala city, a social worker involved in distributing ration at various places in the city, had tested positive for coronavirus.
Alarmed, the District Administration has put around 500 people under home isolation, besides taking the samples for testing of his close contacts. Besides the herculean task of contact tracing, the Administration is also scrambling to trace the source of his infection.
“We have ordered the screening of the entire population living within the jurisdiction of the Patiala municipal corporation (MC) to avoid further spread of the infection. Special attention will be given to those exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus,” said Patiala Deputy Commissioner Kumar Amit.
The DC has also imposed ban on the distribution of langar in the city except the Red Cross Society.
“As per preliminary steps, we have sealed the area around his residence. We are conducting contact tracing,” said a government official.
Meanwhile, Amritsar Administration has started three-day house-to-house screening, and as many as 53,865 persons were examined from 12,401 households.
“The three-day door-to-door screening operation against Covid-19, launched by the District Administration involving the departments of Health, Police and Municipal Corporation, has been completed,” said the state Special Chief Secretary Karan Bir Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu said that the hotspot areas, from where positive cases of Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa and Jaswinder Singh were reported, have been all covered, besides the Jodh Nagar, ESI hospital vicinity, Kangra Colony, Mustafabad, among others.
“One suspected case was found, whose test report has come out to be negative. The entire operation was conducted by 42 teams, managed by 10 Supervisory Officers,” he added.