All 10 samples test negative in Bathinda

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 29

Samples of 10 persons which were collected till now, tested negative for novel coronavirus in Bathinda district. The Health Department confirmed the development after two samples of suspected patients which were sent for examination on Saturday, were found to be negative (reports arrived on Sunday).

Prior to this, samples of eight persons with coronavirus-like symptoms were taken and all were found negative.

Dr Amrik Singh Sandhu, Civil Surgeon, said, “We have collected samples of 10 suspected patients and sent them for examination to the lab. On Friday, samples of a woman and a medical student were sent for testing on Saturday. The reports have arrived and all 10 samples collected so far in the district were tested negative.”

Dr Sandhu added, “While efforts are on at every front to tackle the situation but many people seem to have taken the social distancing for granted. If these guidelines were not followed properly the entire purpose of the lockdown and curfew would be defeated and threat of community transmission would loom large. Therefore, we exhort residents to stay inside their homes and stop gathering outside their homes or anywhere else.”

Civic body sanitises roads, streets in city

To eliminate the possibility of spread of coronavirus, the Municipal Corporation has been spraying sodium hypochlorite, a disinfectant used for bleaching and surface purification, on roads and streets in the city. Besides, other municipal councils and panchayats had also been sanitising areas that come under their jurisdiction.

MC Commissioner Bikramjit Shergill said the MC had formed teams in this regard which were sanitising residential and commercial areas, hospitals and other public places in the city.

Mansa starts e-pass facility

The Mansa district administration has started issuing passes during the curfew in the event of an emergency. Giving this information, Deputy Commissioner Gurpal Singh Chahal said earlier the form was uploaded from Mansa’s NIC website and sent to email but now the curfew passes can be obtained by downloading the ‘COVA Punjab’ mobile app.

The DC said to get e- pass you need to open the app and go to the menu and click on curfew pass request option. He said after filling in the required information in the form, your form can be sent through the app itself. He said upon approval of the pass, you will receive SMS. The link will be sent through. He said if anyone was having trouble downloading the app then the website link can be filled by downloading the form from http://epasscovid19.pais.in.

He said for coming out of the house during curfew it was very important to create an e-pass. He appealed to the residents that e-pass facility had been started only for persons with an emergency status so it should be avoided to send absurd and irrelevant applications so that the eligible persons can get the e-pass correctly.

Three more cases for violating curfew

The police have registered three more cases for violation of the curfew in the district.

In the first case, a resident of Bhagta Bhai Ka has been arrested for arriving at a police checkpost in an inebriated condition. The person also allegedly abused the police officials deputed at the checkpost. In a complaint, Constable Yadwinder Singh has stated that Baljinder Singh of Bhagta Bhai Ka was drunk, abused the police officials and tried to obstruct the government servants from doing their duty. A case under Sections 186, 353 and 510 of the IPC has been registered against him at the Dyalpura police station.

In the second case, four persons have been booked for misleading people by claiming that there was no disease like Covid-19 and the Punjab Police was misleading the people of Bucho Khurd village in the district. In his complaint, SI Rajpal Singh said Gagandeep Singh, Harjit Singh and Jaswinder Singh, all residents of Lal Singh Basti, and Mandeep Singh of Rampura and some unidentified persons were misleading the people. They were also involved in drug sale, he has stated.

The police have registered a case under Sections 188, 269 and 270 of the IPC at the Cantonment police station. While Jaswinder Singh and Mandeep Singh have been arrested, others are still absconding.

In the third incident, the police have arrested Manpreet Singh of Burj village in the Maur area for making claims that there was the Covid-19 scare was baseless and there was no disease like that. A case has been registered.