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Coronavirus: Punjab reports 14 new cases, state tally stands over 200

Ferozepur reported its first coronavirus case

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Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, April 17

Punjab reported 14 more coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the state's tally to 213. 

Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Ferozepur and Patiala reported new coronavirus cases, the state's evening health bulletin showed.  

Ferozepur reported its first coronavirus case on Friday.

Patiala reported five cases, four of whom were contacts of already diagnosed patients. One was a case whose source of infection remains unknown.

In Jalandhar, four more people tested positive on Friday.

Three of the four who testing positive were contacts of a 40-year-old person from Raja Garden who tested positive on April 13.

The fourth person to test positive is a 25-year-old man who contracted it from an already diagnosed patient in Purani Sabzi Mandi.

Jalandhar reported three more cases on Friday evening, although has yet to be counted in the official tally.  

The three new cases includes two children.

This takes the district tally to 38.

Ludhiana reported four cases on Friday—three of them contacts of an assistant police commissioner who tested positive two days ago.  The ACP's wife, his gunman, a native of Ferozepur, and a sub-inspector posted as Basti Jodhewal SHO have been infected.

The officer is currently admitted to SPS Hospital and is on a ventilator. The department is collecting samples of all the contacts of the ACP and nearly 51 samples have been collected so far. 

ADCP Sachin Gupta said that all the three are in isolation and their condition is stable. 

The ACP had got infected while on duty at Sabzi Mandi a few days ago.

One of the four is a new case whose source of infection is unknown.

Officials said Ludhiana’s District Medical Officer Jasbir Kaur also tested positive on Friday, although it is unclear if this has been added to the state tally either.

Ludhiana also reported one death on Friday, although this is yet to be added to the state's official tally.

A 58-year-old man who had to be put on ventilator on Thursday after he had breathing problems died of cardiac arrest on Friday afternoon, within hours of having tested positive, Ludhiana Civil Surgeon Rajesh Bagga said.

The man, who becomes Ludhiana’s third fatality to the deadly coronavirus, was admitted at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital. He was employed at the revenue department, and had remained at home since March 22. He had no travel history.

The man’s death led to authorities isolating his immediate family—which includes three elderly people over 70 years—who health officials say are so far asymptomatic.

Doctors say he began to feel unwell on April 10 and had to be admitted to DMCH on April 14. 

District health officials are now tracing his contacts to isolate and test them, Dr Bagga said.

The fatality takes Ludhiana's death toll to three.

However, the state's tally officially stands at 14.

SDM, another resident test negative in Muktsar

Muktsar SDM Veerpal Kaur tested negative for coronavirus on Friday. She had some symptoms of COVID-19—a fever, cold and cough. Her sample was taken on Wednesday. She had been home quarantined.

Another resident, who had reportedly come into contact with a COVID-19 patient, tested negative.

“The Faridkot laboratory has asked us to repeat the samples of six more persons, which were earlier sent on Sunday,” said a health department official.

Presently, the district has one COVID-19 patient, an 18-year-old boy from Meerut in UP, who along with some others had come here on March 18 after attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi. He is admitted to the local COVID hospital.

More tests come back negative in LPU

In Kapurthala’s Phagwara, 31 of 68 swabs collected at the Lovely Professional University samples tested negative, officials said. Authorities are still waiting for rest results for the rest.

The development comes days after a student of the university tested positive for the infection, prompting district health authorities to seal off the university and conduct more tests.

So far, nobody apart from that one female student has tested positive from LPU.

Punjab government meanwhile issued a notice to the university asking for an explanation about why it did not send its students back home in the light of a growing global pandemic, why it chose to ignore lockdown restrictions.       

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