Of 219 new Punjab cases, 171 from five districts

TNN | May 6, 2020, 15:39 IST

Picture used for representational purpose only

CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR/BATHINDA/PATIALA: Covid-19 continued to spread its tentacles in the southern Malwa and Majha regions of Punjab on Tuesday as five districts in the two belts accounted for 171 of the total 219 new positive cases in the state.
While 95 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the Majha districts of Tarn Taran (48) and Gurdaspur (47), the figure was 76 for three southern Malwa districts of Muktsar (15), Fazilka (34) and Faridkot (27).
There were 15 more cases in Amritsar district of Majha and nine more in southern Malwa district Moga, which could have taken the tally of the two belts to 186, but these had not been to the state’s daily Covid-19 bulletin.
The remaining 48 cases were from Sangrur (22), Ludhiana (14), Jalandhar (6), Kapurthala (5) and Patiala (1). A majority of the new cases continued to be of those who have returned from Hazur Sahib in Nanded, Maharashtra, and other states. The Nanded cases made up for 176 of the 219 fresh ones, while 15 were of workers who came back from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
In the five southern Malwa and Majha districts, the Nanded cases totalled 109 — 39 in Gurdaspur, 32 in Fazilka, 22 in Faridkot, 15 in Tarn Taran, and one in Muktsar. In addition to this, district officials said all 15 cases in Amritsar and three in Muktsar were also linked to Nanded.
In Muktsar, other cases included three cops and 10 workers who returned from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Four such people tested positive in Faridkot.
Since the outbreak of cornavirus, only four cases had been reported in Fazilka, but the figure rose to 38 in a matter of day.
Of the three cops, two are from Malout town of Muktsar and are employed with Punjab Police. The third cop is from Daula village near Gidderbaha and works with Chandigarh Police. The labourers had been stranded for long in Rajasthan. Now, the total Covid-19 cases in Muktsar has risen to to 63.
Though the total number of cases in Muktsar was 49 on Monday, one of the patients was from Faridkot and has been identified as a patient from that district. Now, in Faridkot, the tally is 45. Fazilka deputy commissioner Arvind Pal Singh Sandhu appealed to the people of the district not to panic and continue to abide the curfew.
Fazilka civil surgeon Dr Harchand Singh said of all the patients, seven were from Jalalabad, 10 from Fazilka, 14 from Abohar and one from Rajasthan. He said they had tested 81returnees and were awaiting six reports. The other 29 tested negative. A man from Ropar was also tested positive, but was not added to the state bulletin. Deputy commissioner Sonali Guru said the patient, who returned from Nanded in Maharashtra, was being treated in Amritsar.