Coronavirus: Punjab's eight new cases takes state tally to 184

Tribune News Service
Mohali, April 14

Punjab on Tuesday reported eight coronavirus cases, taking the state's case tally to 184.

Pathankot, Mohali, Gurdaspur, and Jalandhar reported cases.

Pathankot reported four cases, all contacts of already diagnosed patients. 

Gurdaspar reported its first case on Tuesday. A state health bulletin said later in the day that the person suffers from severe acute respiratory distress (SARI)---a phenomenon that occuress in the more serious cases of the deadly contagion. 

Mohali reported two more cases, taking the district's tally to 56---the district with the most number of cases.

One of Tuesday's two cases is a  56-year-old woman from Jawaharpur village of Dera Bassi----the village that the state's authrities have marked as a cluster.

The woman's family members had previously tested positive. She is believed to have tested positive in the second test. This makes the the total number of coronavirus cases in the village  to 38. 

The other case is a 36-year-old woman from Mundi Kharar.

She worked as a domestic help of a 78-year-old woman who had died of coronavirus at the civil hospital in Kharar on April 7. The deceased woman's husband had also tested positive.

Both of Tuesday's cases have been admitted to the isolation ward of the Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur.

None of Jawaharpur's 38 patients have a travel history. Most of them were asymptomatic, and were diagnosed only after testing. Some Tablighi Jamaat members had stayed in the village but had left before anyone could get information about them.

Dr Manjit Singh, Civil Surgeon, said that teams had been deputed for the villages to take the samples of the women's family members and other contacts.

Deputy Commissioner, Girish Dayalan, said that the district administration was undertaking extensively tracing contacts and sampling, which is leading to the identification of more cases.

"This would lead to their isolation in time and help in combating the coronavirus. The containment protocol is being strictly followed in the village," he added.

In Kapurthala, 18 of 24 students at Lovely Professional University tested negative on Tuesday, officials said. Police are awaiting test results of seven people in the university, which includes that of a person working at the institutions mess who died on Monday. He is believed to have had jaundice.

Jalandhar also reported one case, also a patient with actute respiratory distress. This takes the district tally to 25. 

The health bulletin also shows that Punjab's death tally currently stands at 13.

Meanwhile, Sangrur district reported its third positive case on Tuesday. One person tested positive in Malerkotla, officials said.

A Patiala city resident with no travel history tested positive on Tuesday, officials said. This makes it the third coronavirus case in the district.

Neither the Sangrur nor Patiala case have been added to the state's official tally yet.