3 more test positive in HP, count now 45

DHARAMSHALA: Three more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra and Chamba districts on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 45, officials said.

One of the patient is a 43-yearold man from Jamanabad panchayat near Kangra town and has a travel history to Dubai. “He had returned to Delhi on March 21 where he stayed for over a month and then came to Himachal on April 27 with four others in a car,” Kangra deputy commissioner Rakesh Kumar Prajapati said.

The man was under home quarantine since April 28 and developed Influenza-like Illness symptoms. A health team collected his sample on Tuesday which came out positive.

Prajapati said earlier his sample had tested negative for Covid-19

in Delhi. “The patient has been admitted to a treatment facility at Panchyati Raj Training Institute (PRTI), Baijnath.

Twenty-four of the patient’s primary contacts, including his four co-passengers have been traced and put under quarantine. They will be tested for Covid-19 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, authorities have sealed the Jamanabad panchayat till further orders. The fresh case from Kangra was reported on the day when the district was to be declared green zone.

Two other positive cases have been reported from Kihar area of Salooni sub-division in Chamba district. Both had a travel history to Baddi area of Solan. They returned to Chamba on April 30. Authorities have started their contact mapping. The patients are being shifted to a treatment facility and the area they belong to is being sealed.