79 cases in 3 days, Patiala village turns Covid hotspot
PATIALA: With 79 cases of infection reported in the past three days, Dhablan village in Patiala district has turned into a Covid-19 hotspot
The village with a population of nearly 2,400 has recorded a positivity rate as high as 10% and was declared a containment zone by the district health department to contain the virus spread.
It recorded five deaths in the past one month. Nearly 800 people were tested in the village in the past one week.
Sarpanch Manpreet Kaur said it all started a month ago. “The virus spread in the village since the villagers did not take any precautions. People continued to sit together in the village common area and did not get tested, which deteriorated the situation,” she said.
Now, the movement in the village has been restricted and those found positive for the virus and their family members are not allowed to step out of their homes.
Dr Aslam Parvez, a medical officer, said of the 42 cases were reported two days ago while 37 tested positive on Saturday.
“The villagers’ reluctance to get tested is the main reason behind the spread. But now, they have started coming forward for testing,” Dr Parvez said.
“We are continuously maintaining communication with the patients so that they can be provided immediate help in case of emergency,” he said.
Patiala civil surgeon Dr Satinder Singh said the department is conducting testing in a phased manner and will test the remaining population at the earliest.
“Since the main road passes through the village, the department has declared both sides of the roads as containment zone,” he said.
Pull out all stops to check Covid in villages: Chief secy to officials CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief secretary Vini Mahajan on Saturday asked the departments concerned and the district administrations to pull out all the stops to contain Covid-19 in villages by ramping up testing, tracing, treatment and vaccination and reach out to every household in rural areas.
Chairing a meeting of administrative secretaries, deputy commissioners, police commissioners, senior superintendents of police (SSPS) and health officials to review the situation, Mahajan directed the officials to immediately provide oxygen concentrators at select rural government hospitals and asked the district administrations to take strict action against private hospitals found fleecing Covid patients.
Emphasising on providing immediate treatment to Covid patients suffering from black fungus, she asked principal secretary (health) Hussan Lal to immediately share the protocol with all the government and private hospitals in the state. She asked him to notify the panel of hospitals treating the disease.
Lal informed that of a total 4,95,689 samples collected this week, 45,246 were found positive for Covid, bringing down the state’s positivity rate to 9.1%.
According to figure, 1,413 deaths were reported the week ending May 21 with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 3.1%.