With 30 cases, Mohali worst hit in Punjab

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, April 8

With four fresh cases today, Mohali tops the list of Covid-affected districts in the state with as many as 30 reporting positive till Wednesday evening. The first case was reported on March 21.

Till date, as many as 626 samples from the district have been sent for tests of which 30 have turned out to be positive. Test reports of 75 samples are awaited. As many as 15 cases have been reported from Jawaharpur village in Dera Bassi block of the district.

Till date, one person, a resident of Nayagaon village in Kharar subdivision, has died at the PGI, Chandigarh. As his family is under isolation, no relative or family friends in the village had come forward to perform his last rites. He was cremated by officials of the district administration.

The Tablighi Jamaat incident is the main factor behind the spread of Covid in the village as a foreman working in a factory had come in contact with the 43-year-old panch of the village. The foreman, who had attended the congregation in Delhi, had met five to six labourers working at the tent house owned by the panch. Three more members of the Jammat had visited the congregation in Delhi and two of them had tested positive. Later, the son of one of the members had also tested positive.

Two sisters, aged 74 years and 69 years, who were en route to Kartarpur Sahib for pilgrimage from London, had also tested positive. Till date, five persons have been cured of the disease and discharged from various hospitals.

As only two ventilators were available at the Civil Hospital, Mohali, the health authorities have allied with private hospitals, including Fortis and Max, for setting up isolation wards. At present, 50 ventilators are available in the district.

The district administration had set up a special isolation ward with 300 beds. The administration, in association with Chandigarh University, has also set up 1,000-bed isolation facility at the university complex as part of the state government’s contingency plan to prepare isolation facilities well in advance so that in case the number of infected cases rises, the administration can quarantine them quickly.

Jamaat factor

The Tablighi Jamaat incident is the main factor behind the spread of Covid in Jawaharpur village as a foreman working in a factory had come in contact with a 43-year-old panch of the village. The foreman, who had attended the congregation in Delhi, had met five to six labourers working at the tent house owned by the panch. Three more members of the Jammat had attended the congregation in Delhi and two of them had tested positive.

Five discharged

Till date, five persons have been cured and discharged from various hospitals in Mohali district. As only two ventilators are available at the Civil Hospital, Mohali, the health authorities have allied with private hospitals, including Fortis and Max, for setting up isolation wards.