Chandigarh woman stable, 119 contacts quarantined

ZEROING IN Samples of father, mother, brother, driver and cook sent for testing to PGI

CHANDIGARH : The 23-year-old Chandigarh woman, who tested positive for Covid-19, has a slight fever but is stable, authorities at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, said on Thursday.

Dr BS Chavan, director-cumprincipal, GMCH, said the patient had been put on symptomatic treatment, which involved medical therapy affecting only the symptoms, not the cause.

The samples of her father, mother, brother, driver and cook have also been sent to the testing centre at PGIMER, Chandigarh.

In Panchkula, a 21-year-old man of Sector 7, who travelled in the same flight as the patient, and a 17-year-old boy and his mother, 40, who provided salon services to her after her return from England, have also been tested the virus. All results are awaited.

Meanwhile, the street comprising 18 houses in Sector 21, where the confirmed patient lives, was sealed on Thursday afternoon.

The entire area and its vicinity was sanitised by the Chandigarh administration.

PRIMARY, SECONDARY CONTACTS ISOLATED

Besides, a co-passenger of the patient, who landed from England in Amritsar on March 15, her gardener and his family, and another person, who came in contact with the woman, have been traced and quarantined.

“Two more persons, one in Punjab’s Mohali and another in Haryana’s Panchkula, have been quarantined at their homes, and their information has been conveyed to the respective state surveillance units,” GMCH officials said. Similar informed was also forwarded regarding the woman’s driver and his family, who reside in Zirakpur, Punjab, and about her father’s showroom in Mohali.

“Information about secondary contacts, including those who came in contact with her brother, who travelled to Delhi with some friends, stayed at a friend’s place and held a meeting with three Delhi residents has also been shared with the Delhi State Surveillance Unit. All in all 12 contacts of the patient, 70 secondary contacts (contacts of father and brother) and 37 other secondary contacts (contacts of patient’s primary contacts) have been traced. Needful action has been taken in line with central government’s guidelines,” officials said.

Dr Gagandeep Singh Grover, state programme officer, intefor grated disease surveillance program, Punjab, said the Air India flight that the woman took had 83 other passengers.

“Of these, 62 are from Punjab and remaining from other states. They have been told to observe strict home quarantine,” Dr Grover added.

“The woman shared that she did not stop anywhere on her way from Amritsar to Chandigarh,” he said, adding that according to her father, she had confined herself to one room on her return to Chandigarh.

TESTING FACILITY AT GMCH

Dr BS Chavan said they had written to the Indian Council Medical Research to start a testing facility for coronavirus at GMCH. “We have the basic infrastructure and reagents have been sought. We will see what their response will be,” he said.