Covid norms thrown to the wind, cases spike

Aparna Banerji

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 15

There has been a consistent rise in the Covid-19 positive cases in the last few days. For nearly a month, cases were reported between 70 and 100, however, 113 cases were reported in Jalandhar on November 13 (a day before Diwali) and 111 positive cases on Sunday. With these 111 cases, the district tally reached 16,253, which stood at 14,517 on October 16. On November 14, 66 cases were reported.

In the last one month, 1,736 cases had been added to the district tally. The toll was 458 till October 16, which reached 503 on November 15. The death tally was 498 on November 13, which increased to 503 on November 15.

Crowded markets, people roaming without masks and defying social distancing norms became common during the festive season. The police drive against violators failed to deter people from staying indoors.

Around Diwali, markets, malls and religious places witnessed massive rush. At some places, crowd surpassed even previous years. Jams were witnessed on almost every stretch as shoppers thronged markets.

Crowd, pollution and winter led to surge in the virus as it was warned about by experts. As positive cases have increased drastically in Delhi, similar fear persists in Jalandhar as well.

TP Singh, Nodal Officer, Covid (Jalandhar), said, “There has been increase in cases in the last few days. But one can’t say that a peak will be witnessed immediately after Diwali. We will have to wait a week or so to see whether festive crowd leads to increase in cases. At present, we have witnessed some increase in cases. However, it is too early to predict whether there will be a peak in winter.”

“It is true that many people threw caution to the winds during the festive season. An unprecedented amount of people thronged markets. It is important that people abide by the protocol with due care. Many don’t even pay attention and roam around without masks. An intelligent citizenry plays pivotal role in keeping the virus at bay,” he said.