167 suspected Covid-19 patients untraceable
LUDHIANA: The health department has decided to carry out a weeklong door-to-door survey from Thursday on the lines of a pulse polio drive to detect suspected coronavirus cases among people with recent foreign travel history. The department swung into action after 167 people, who have recent foreign travel history, are still untraceable.
“We have shared two lists with the police. The first list consists of 119 people with foreign travel history, of which 17 have been tracked down. The second list has 77 people and 12 of them have been traced so far. The Union ministry of external affairs is sending such lists to us on a daily basis. We are tracking down people who have recently returned from abroad to ascertain if any one of them is suffering from flulike symptoms,” said Dr Rajesh Bagga , the city’s civil surgeon.
A bulk of the people with foreign travel history are still untraceable because of either wrong address in their passports or erroneous telephone numbers, he said.
The health officials will visit every household in Ludhiana district and ask the occupants to submit a declaration about the people living in the house and whether anyone from their family travelled abroad recently.
“If any family member has travelled abroad recently, then that person will be asked to fill a second form,” said Dr Bagga.
The person with recent foreign travel history will be separated from the rest of h/his family members and a report will be sent to the health department’s rapid response team.
The samples of the people, who have recently come back from abroad and are showing flu-like symptoms, would be sent for tests. Integrated child development services programme employees, multi-purpose health paramedical staff and teachers and accredited social health activists will conduct the survey, Dr Bagga said.
On Tuesday, the Punjab government ordered the closure of malls, shopping complexes, and kisan mandies till March 31 across the state.
Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana Pradeep Aggrawal said the orders will be strictly implemented Thursday onwards.