With 26 new positive cases, Haryana count rises to 70

Of these, 21 people had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi

CHANDIGARH: The number of Covid-19 cases in Haryana rose by 26 on Saturday, taking the total count of positive cases to 70.

Senior officials of the health department said that 21 persons who had attended the religious event at Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin in Delhi last month had tested positive include 13 in Palwal besides two in Bhiwani and five in Faridabad. One positive case was reported in Kaithal. They said that all had been quarantined in their respective districts. Of the remaining five fresh cases, two persons who tested positive were in Gurugram and had come from Agra on Saturday and three persons in Faridabad, who were also other than five persons who had attended the meet in Nizamuddin, the officials said.

With this, Gurugram and Palwal have 17 positive cases each, followed by Faridabad with 14 cases, four cases in Panipat, three each in Ambala, Nuh and Sirsa, two each in Bhiwani and Panchkula. While Hisar, Karnal, Kaithal, Rohtak, Sonepat, had reported one each positive case, taking the total number of positive cases to 70. All the persons who had come in their contact have also been quarantined and their respective areas put under surveillance.

In Bhiwani, a 56-year-old resident of Manheru village and 26-year-old from Sandwa village, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event have tested positive for coronavirus and in Kaithal, a 62-year-old man, who had also attended the Jamaat last month has been tested positive for the disease, making it the first case of the Kaithal district.

Of the 70 cases, nine from Gurugram, three from Panipat and one each from Sonepat, Palwal and Faridabad have been treated and discharged from hospitals so far, bringing down the number of active patients to 55.

PALWAL DECLARED CONTAINMENT ZONE

Meanwhile, nine villages from where 13 new Covid-19 positive cases in Palwal district were reported were declared containment zone. These villages are Kot, Ghudawali, Lakhnaka, Babupur Hathin, Jalalpur, Gurqakar, Alimev, Pahadpur and Utavad. Also, 27 adjoining villages were also declared buffer zone boundaries. Each house in the entire containment zone would be screened and scanned for more cases.

HRY POLICE REGISTER 38 FIRS FOR SPREADING FAKE NEWS

The Haryana Police have registered 38 FIRs against 36 persons for allegedly spreading fake news about Covid-19 on WhatsApp and other social media platforms across the state. Additional director-general of police (law and order), Navdeep Singh Virk said that the accused had been booked for rumour-mongering under Sections of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act. In order to enforce a strict lockdown, he said that police have also registered 1141 FIRs against 1,655 persons for violating the government order. Since the lockdown, the police have also seized 5,750 vehicles and imposed a fine of ₹7.11 crore upon the violators under the Motor Vehicle Act.