Punjab sees 20 coronavirus cases in one day, highest single-day rise

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 7

Punjab reported 20 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday—the largest single day rise since the first case was reported in the state on March 8.

The new cases took the infection tally in the state to 99, with eight deaths.

Of the 20, seven came from SAS Nagar, also called Mohali—the district that has so far reported the highest number of cases. Six of the 20 came from Pathankot, four from Moga, two from Mansa and one from Amritsar.

All seven of Mohali’s cases were from Jawaharpur village and were contacts of a person who is currently undergoing treatment for the contagion in Chandigarh’s Government Medical College-32.

Mohali Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said in a tweet the authorities were treating the village as a coronavirus cluster. He said authorities had surveyed 522 houses and took samples from 118 people.

“7 more positive cases in village Jawaharpur, Derabassi – total of 11, making it a COVID cluster. Containment exercise done as per protocol – 3 villages sealed, 522 houses surveyed, 118 samples taken today. Total Positive – 26 Samples Taken – 607 Reports Awaited – 192,” he said in a tweet.

He said the village had been sealed off as a precaution.

In Pathankot, six more people tested positive, prompting authorities to tighten restrictions. Among those who tested positive was the 78-year-old husband of a woman who died of complications from the contagion at Amritsar’s Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.

Local authorities said those who tested positive on Monday had neither travelled anywhere recently nor had relatives visit them from abroad.

In Mansa, two more people tested positive for the virus. The two had been staying had attended last month’s Talblighi Jamaat’s congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz and had been at the same mosque in Budhladha subdivision where three other people tested positive recently.

Four people staying at a mosque at Cheeda village in Moga’s Baghapurana sub-division also tested positive. The four includes a 22-year-old man from Mumbai’s Andheri (West). All four had been staying at the mosque with nine other people for the past several days, authorities said.

8 recover in Nawanshahr

Eight people in Nawanshahr recovered from coronavirus on Tuesday.

Two people, who completed their isolation period in the district on Tuesday, have tested negative for the disease.

109 contacts of those who attended Tablighi meet quarantined in Fatehgarh Sahib

One hundred and nine people in Fatehgarh Sahib district were quarantined on Tuesday after they came in contact with people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi last month, including two women who have tested positive for coronavirus.

Forty-five people have been quarantined in Maneli village and 64 in Sanghol. They were identified as contacts of 11 jamaat followers. Samples of 17 people have been sent for examination.

Results of 3 awaited in Muktsar

In Muktsar, 26 people have been tested for coronavirus so far. Twenty-three people have tested negative, while the results of 3 others, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation are awaited.

Amritsar family refuses to cremate body of COVID-positive man 

The administration cremated the body of a 65-year-old, who died of coronavirus on Monday, with religious rites, after his family refused to accept the body.

The patient was a Retired Additional Commissioner (Technical) of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation and was a resident of Chaatiwind area in Amritsar.