Amid the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, more than 1,300 residents of Chandigarh have been put under home quarantine till Friday evening. The first positive case of COVID-19 was recorded on March 19 in the city. The number of positive COVID-19 case stood at 18 in the city till Friday evening while over 1300 people are under home quarantine.
More than 300 residents have been quarantined only in last three days in Sector 26 (Bapu Dham colony), 27 and periphery areas of Manimajra, Mouli Jagran, Maloya, Ram Darbar. The surge in number of those quarantined in the city in the last three days is the outcome of event of Tablighi Jamaat Markaz, Delhi and another religious gathering at Sector 27 here. Five persons from Mouli Jagran had attended Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin, Delhi. Another resident of Mata Raj Kaur Gurudwara, Manimajra had attended the Jamaat at Mobina Masjid Ramganj, Jaipur, Rajasthan while 15 others residing in premises of Bapu Dham had attended Jamaat at Maharashtra. As a precautionary measure to stop the spread of the deadly disease, all of them and their primary contacts have been put under home quarantine. This includes more than 150 people in areas including Manimajra, Mouli Jagran, Maloya, Ram Darbar and Bapu Dham.
Apart from this, a large religious gathering was held at a residence here in Sector 27 on March 19, which was attended by Padma Shri awardee, 67-year-old Bhai Nirmal Singh, who had died due to COVID-19 on Thursday. Following this, atleast 90 people who attended the religious gathering in Sector 27 and are living in Sector 27, 18, 33 and 36 have been put under home quarantine on Thursday and Friday. A day before, the Administration had decided to track mobile phones of people in home quarantine, to ensure they follow the protocol and do not step out of their houses.
So far, the city has recorded 18 positive COVID-19 cases, out of which one has recovered and discharged from the hospital.
Only a day before, the city had recorded its youngest COVID-19 positive case of a 10-month old girl. The infant is the daughter of NRI couple who had come from Canada on March 13 and was tested positive of Coronavirus on March 30.
No new positive case of Coronavirus was reported on Friday in the city.
“More than 1300 are put under home quarantine in the city. These include NRIs, their primary and secondary contacts, the positive cases and their contacts and other people who attended religious gatherings recently,” said a senior officer of UT Administration.
He said that in view of Tablighi Jamaat at Delhi and other similar events, which became hotspot of COVID-19 spread in various parts of the country, we have quarantined those who attended such events and people who came in contact with them. Another religious event was held at Sector 27 here which was attended by a COVID-19 patient who died on Thursday. Considering all this, we have put more than 300 people under home quarantine in the past three days in various parts of the city, he added
He said that border of Faidan village has also been sealed. This was done after a 55-year-old Mohali resident tested positive for COVID-19 died.
Notably, a total of 17 city residents, who are COVID-19 positive are under treatment in the hospitals of city.
Currently, three hospitals are dealing with the COVID-19 positive and suspected cases.
A day before, the Administration had decided to shift all positive cases to an exclusive COVID dedicated facility at PGIMER. However, all three hospitals i.e. PGIMER, GMCH-32 and GMSH-16 will continue to screen the patients, take the samples of suspected patients and keep the sampled patients in their isolation wards till the receipt of results.
Seven positive patients from GMCH-32 and one from GMSH-16 were shifted to Nehru Hospital, PGIMER on Friday.
