17 cured, Panchkula has only 1 active case

PANCHKULA: With no new Covid-19 case reported in the last 10 days and four positive patients, including a 44-year-old Sector 15 woman and her husband recovering and being discharged from a private hospital on Thursday, Panchkula has only one positive patient at the Civil Hospital, which indicates that the authorities here have taken the right steps to control the pandemic.

The health department and district administration have been strict in laying down rules, which are being monitored effectively by the police. The MC too has been carrying out sanitisation of the city in a phased manner.

Apart from her husband, the 44-year-old woman, a post office agent, was the prime source of infection for her 14-year-old daughter and seven other family members, who were discharged on April 26. Besides, two men aged 18 and 68, who had attended Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaat event and were residents of Banoi Khuda Baksh village in Pinjore, were discharged from the Civil Hospital in Sector 6. Till April 1, city had only two cases, which later spiked to 18 by April 20.

Panchkula deputy commissioner (DC) Mukesh Kumar Ahuja said the administration’s preparedness and proactive working process controlled community infection. He said the health department was active since the first case was reported at Kharak Mangoli village and the area was declared containment zone. “Declaration of areas as containment and buffer zones and intensive screening and testing also helped,” he added.

CONTAINMENT STRATEGY IN PLACE

Civil surgeon Dr Jasjeet Kaur said after the Sector 15 woman had tested positive, the containment strategy was immediately put in place and contact tracing carried out vigorously. Samples of 147 persons were taken of which eight of her family members tested positive. The sector was declared containment zone with its adjoining areas as buffer zone. Entry and exit of persons was prohibited and home delivery of essential items ensured.

The health department also conducted house-to-house surveillance and covered around 2,397 houses, screening 13, 791 persons in the sector. To date, 22 teams have screened 41,293 people. About 12 mobile medical teams are pressed into service.

OTHER STEPS

Besides declaring the localities as containment zones, the administration sealed all entry points to and from Dera Bassi in Punjab. Also, 18 villages in the district where Tablighi Jamaat attendees stayed after returning from Delhi had been contained.