Wrong reports of missing patients

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Screening of rail passengers

CHANDIGARH: Punjab has one confirmed case of Coronavirus (COVID-19) till date who is admitted in government medical college at Amritsar and is stable now.The patient had flown in from Italy and was checked at Amritsar international airport before being admitted to the hospital. Samples of patient’s other family members have been found negative.Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said on Saturday that the state government is taking all steps needed to deal with the situation and till date there is no need to declare Coronavirus as epidemic in Punjab. He further added that no suspected case of Coronavirus is absconding or missing in the state.The health minister also told that the state government has taken a decision to close down cinema halls, swimming pools and gyms from midnight on Saturday till further orders. He added that deputy commissioners have powers to take decision at their own level if some other crowded places need to be closed in view of the Coronavirus. “All public gatherings including sports events, conferences, cultural events, fairs and exhibitions shall also not be held till further orders from the midnight of March 14,” reads the order. The state government had on Friday ordered closure of all educational institutes in the state till March 31.Sidhu said that the state government is taking up with the medical companies for supply of adequate number of hand sanitisers though the supply is short because of the demand from all over the country.The health minister said that reports about seven suspected Coronavirus cases missing from Ludhiana were wrong and baseless. “These passengers were screened at Delhi airport and were asymptomatic. The address and details of these passengers were not completed as per information received from the government of India, so the information of these passengers was shared with district administration in order to keep them under surveillance,” said Sidhu. None of these persons is a suspected case of Coronavirus, he clarified.The state health minister further informed that till date the central government has shared a list of 6,850 passengers with Punjab and all these passengers had been screened at Delhi and different other airports after which they were found asymptomatic. As the state health department is carrying out surveillance of all passengers, as many as 6,058 passengers had been contacted till date out of 6,850. “The contact details of 335 passengers are incomplete and lists have been shared with district administration to contact these passengers once to know about their health status. But these cases are not suspected cases of COVID-19,” said the health minister.Sidhu also said that the central government was sharing lists of passengers of travel from different countries with Punjab on daily basis. But all the passengers are being screened at port of entry at Delhi or other airports across the country on arrival. “As a matter of precaution and to ensure surveillance of each and every passenger, state government is visiting and calling every passenger daily till surveillance period of 14 days from day of arrival,” the health minister informed.The state government is also considering carrying out screening of rail passengers at Ludhiana, Ambala and other railway stations in view of the forthcoming wheat harvest season which attracts migratory labour to Punjab from other states including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh . The health minister added for the purpose of quarantine, there are 500 beds each in Amritsar as well as Mohali government hospitals.The health minister said as many government doctors were going to retire on March 31 after state government's decision to reduce the retirement age from 60 years to 58 years, the health department is soon going to take a decision so that there is no shortage of doctors when there is a scare of Coronavirus among people.Punjab government had earlier quarantined two IAS-IPS officer couples who had traveled to Italy and Switzerland on holiday. These are Sangrur SSP Sandeep Garg and his wife Surbhi Malik, who is chief administrator of Patiala Development Authority (PDA). Another couple is that of Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dyalan and his wife Avneet Kondal, who is Fatehgarh Sahib SSP. The health minister said that health condition all four officers are stable, and their 14-day quarantine period is coming to an end on March 16.