MEDICS WILL SCREEN PILGRIMS: SIDHU ON OPENING OF SHRINES

AMRITSAR:Punjab health and family welfare Balbir Singh Sidhu on Sunday said medical teams will be deployed to screen devotees when places of worship open in the state from June 8 onwards.

Sidhu, who reviewed the situation after surge in Covid-19 cases in Amritsar, said, “All arrangements have been made for this. For instance, medical teams are stationed outside the Golden Temple and the Durgiana Temple to screen devotees.”

The minister said there was no community spread in the city and asked the residents not to panic. This came a day after Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said there was community transmission of the virus in Amritsar.

Sidhu held a meeting with the officials concerned and instructed them to make proper arrangements to prevent any further spread of the coronavirus.

“The majority of patients have travel history or are contacts of those infected earlier. Amritsar has an international airport and a large railway junction. People stranded due to the lockdown are arriving here from other states and abroad and it is the main cause of the spread,” the health minister said.

“Private hospitals stayed away from contributing to the battle against the pandemic. It is the health department staff, police who acted as frontline warriors,” he added.