Attendants protest over low quality food served at PGIMER’s quarantine facility, Chandigarh, Saturday. (Photo: Kamleshwar Singh)

A 63-year-old woman from Ambala, Haryana, who was admitted in ICU at PGIMER, passed away on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, as six more residents of Chandigarh tested positive for COVID-19, the case tally of the city has risen to 94, surpassing the number of cases in the neighboring district of Mohali.

The woman who died was a resident of Ratangarh district. She had been diabetic for the past 15 years. She was also hypertensive, had a chronic kidney disease and needed regular dialysis. Her cause of death was underlined as “septic shock, chronic kidney disease, hypertension and moderate pneumonia”, according to a PGIMER spokesperson.

Of the six who tested positive Saturday, five are from hotspot Bapu Dham Colony. At least 42 of the 75 active COVID-19 cases are of Bapu Dham colony residents, while the rest are scattered across 18 sectors/colonies in Chandigarh.

The five Bapu Dham colony residents who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, a 14-year-old boy, whose contact history has not yet been traced. However, all the five patients are residents of the sealed area of Phase 1 in Bapu Dham Colony colony, indicating community spread.

In total, ten family or household contacts and about 70 community contacts have been traced by the MC to these five new patients. Besides quarantining the contacts, the UT administration has also ramped up screening and testing in the area, sending multiple teams to conduct screening work. However, rapid testing kits have not been put to use yet.

A 49-year-old COVID-19 positive and resident of Shastri Nagar in Manimajra, whose son is also a COVID-19 patient, has named 26 community contacts. While all contacts have been quarantined, two family contacts, including his wife and son-in-law have tested negative for the disease. The test results of 28 samples are awaited. As of Saturday night, a total of 1,462 patients have been tested in Chandigarh.

Two in ICU, others asymptomatic or with mild symptoms 

Out of all the Chandigarh residents admitted at PGIMER, two have been admitted to the ICU but are recovering well, according to the healthcare staff deployed in the ward. Meanwhile, the general ward for COVID-19 patients had at least 60 patients late Friday night. A nurse at the ward said that none of the patients are even “febrile”. She added, “Most of them are healthy and on the way to recovery. ”

Protest at PGIMER

Hospital Attendants and Sanitation Attendants in quarantine at PGIMER’s Red Cross Sarai, post COVID-19 duty, staged a protest at the Sarai on Saturday afternoon, against the low quality of food being served at the facility. The attendants sat in a row across the three levels, maintaining social distancing, and picked up chapatis from their plates, stating that it tastes like rubber and the vegetables smell rotten. They added, they did not deserve such treatment after putting their lives on risk for the nation.