The positive cases at the CM residence have, meanwhile, come as no surprise as the infection has spread to almost all government offices in Panchkula, with cases being reported from each of them.In another steep upsurge of Covid-19 positive cases in Panchkula, as many as 110 people including nine posted at Haryana CM Residence tested positive in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Those who tested positive at the CM residence are all males aged 49, 24, 23, 26, 21, 33, 38, 55 and 36 years, respectively. These patients are being counted under the ‘other districts’ tally.
The samples were collected from the CM residence as part of the administration’s sampling strategy to test all who are to visit directly or be indirect contacts of those who are linked to the upcoming Haryana Monsoon Assembly session set to begin on August 26.
“As our sampling strategy, we have formed three teams who are sampling almost 60 people each. The people being sampled are officials, their staff, drivers, cooks, health workers and police officials who will be visiting the assembly session or are posted there. We would need to conduct at least 600 samples before the session begins and we cannot do so in a day. Thus, the process has already begun. The nine who tested positive Wednesday were sampled as per the same strategy,” said Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Saroj Aggarwal.
Ministers including the CM as well as Speaker and MLA Panchkula Gian Chand Gupta will also be sampled before they join the session.
The positive cases at the CM residence have, meanwhile, come as no surprise as the infection has spread to almost all government offices in Panchkula, with cases being reported from each of them.
The cases have been coming to fore through another sampling initiative by the district health administration, as per which government office employees were being randomly sampled.
Clusters being identified in rural areas
The rise in cases of Panchkula is being driven by clusters of Covid-19 cases formed in rural areas. In two more such clusters identified Wednesday, 24 people from Kalka, 13 from Pinjore and eight from Nanakpur tested positive.
Most of the people are being diagnosed with the disease following the contact tracing of positive patients. Taking precaution as the cases rise in Kalka and Nanakpur area, the health administration Wednesday constituted a team of healthcare officials to conduct special house-to-house surveys in the area for early detection of cases, said CMO Panchkula Dr Jasjeet Kaur.
Other positive cases in the district Wednesday have been reported from Sector 17, Kundi village, Sector 7, Pinjore, Sector 15, Sector 10, Raipurrani, Manak Tabra, Sector 4, Abheypur, Sector 21, Sector 6, Kot village, Sector 16, Sector 2, Indira Colony, Budanpur, Rajiv Colony, Industrial area, Sector 12 and Amravati.
Out of the total 110 cases reported on Wednesday, 86 hail from Panchkula, and as many as 24 are being counted under outside Panchkula tally. These 24 include nine cases from the Haryana CM residence, nine from Chandigarh, two each from Kurukshetra and Zirakpur, and one each from Mohali and Ambala.
The tally of cases in the district touched 1,313, with an added 311 people of other districts who tested positive in Panchkula. At present, 393 cases remain active in Panchkula. The district has witnessed eight Covid-19 deaths so far, and as many as 26,674 samples have been collected.