Stamping of quarantined suspects begins

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 21

To check the spread of coronavirus in the district, the Jalandhar administration has started the process of stamping home quarantined and suspected patients. While the step had first been heard in Mumbai, in Punjab, Jalandhar will be the first district to begin stamping of the suspects. Meanwhile, tracking travel histories of suspected persons in retrospect, the administration has also taken stricter measures to isolate those with recent travel histories. The administration has also started the process of distinguishing the suspected patients by putting unique identification stickers outside houses of such patients.

The police as well as Health Department teams today visited the Palm Royale Apartments in the city in this regard. Three residents of the apartment have been placed under isolation. Of the three, two have travel histories of the US and Canada.

The authorities said the Health Department as well as the district administration would track all persons with a travel history and place them in isolation. Notably, while tracking has been taking place since January end in the district – this is the first day that the drive to stamp suspects and place stickers on their home has started.

Another housing society, The Silver Heights Apartments in Jalandhar, have also begun their own sanitisation and cleanliness measures, ensuring protection and safety of residents.

Dr Shobhna, Epidemiologist, Jalandhar, said: “At present, only three persons with foreign travel history had been tracked in the district. They have been placed under quarantine. We shall be tracking every family and tracking measures will be intensified to reduce people’s exposure to suspects.”

While over 700 NRIs or persons with travel history had been tracked in the district till early March, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said the move was aimed at checking the spread of the virus.

He said people who had been home quarantined as a precautionary measure, would have these stamps on their right hands. Sharma said the stamp of indelible ink would provide identification to the person who had been home quarantined.

The Deputy Commissioner said staff had been deployed to ensure that the stamp was imprinted on the arms of quarantined persons. He said the entire process needs to be completed at the earliest so that the suspected patients were distinguished from others. Home quarantined persons must refrain from moving out of their houses in larger public interest. The virus could also be checked with active public support also as precaution was the only way to avoid the disease. Sharma said for any information regarding Covid, the health authorities could be contacted.

In all district administration has taken 17 samples in Jalandhar so far, 14 of which were taken earlier and three were taken yesterday. The three recent samples are of those of the family of Nawanshahr resident Baldev Singh, who was the first Punjab patient to die of coronavirus. Besides the three patients placed in isolation at an apartment complex today, eight more are currently under isolation at the Phillaur Civil Hospital. Three of these are Phagwara-based relatives of Baldev, one a person with a travel history from Dubai and three more from Lohgarh in Nawanshar with a travel history from Spain, who had skipped isolation but were apprehended by the police.

After the trio placed in isolation in the city, housing societies in the city have also been put on alert.