Two of the infected Jamaat members were traced to Fatehgarh Sahib while others were located in Mohali, Ludhiana and Kapurthala districts of the state. (Representational Image)
Eleven more people were found infected with coronavirus in Punjab Monday, taking the count of confirmed cases to 79 in the state, a medical bulletin said. Five of the fresh cases are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat members who had attended the organisation’s religious congregation in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month.
Two of the infected Jamaat members were traced to Fatehgarh Sahib while others were located in Mohali, Ludhiana and Kapurthala districts of the state.
The maximum four cases, including a Jamaat member, were reported from Mohali, the medical bulletin said, adding that two patients were detected in Rupnagar and one in Amritsar.
The Ludhiana patient is a resident of Chowkimaan area and works at a diary farm.
Ludhiana Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said, “Nine close contacts, including family members of the patient who came positive Monday, have been tested and admitted in the hospital’s isolation ward. Their reports will come on Tuesday.”
A member of Jamaat had tested positive Sunday from Rajgarh village in Ludhiana’s Doraha area. He too was working with a diary farm. His family members, however, tested negative on Monday.
Till now, Punjab has traced 448 Tablighis out of a list of 468 given by the Centre. A total of 11 Tablighis have tested positive in Punjab.
Mohammad Mustkeem, political secretary to Shahi Imam Punjab in a video message to Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh Sunday, said, “We ourselves are asking all those who attended Jamaat to get themselves tested and even have also sent a few to hospital as well. But few anti-social elements are sending cops in those houses that had no connection with Markaz.”
So far, coronavirus cases have been reported from 14 districts of the state. Nawanshahr and Mohali have reported the maximum 19 cases each, followed by nine in Amritsar, seven in Hoshiarpur, six each in Jalandhar and Ludhiana, three each in Mansa and Rupnagar, two in Fatehgarh Sahib and one each in Patiala, Faridkot, Barnala, Kapurthala and Pathankot.
One patient is critical and on ventilator support, the medical bulletin said. The state has so far seen seven deaths due to the virus while four patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.
The state so far has taken 2,384 samples, of which 1,994 turned negative while reports of 311 are still awaited.
(With PTI inputs)