Three Hazur Sahib pilgrims tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease in Hoshiarpur on Wednesday, while two pilgrims has tested positive in Faridkot late on Tuesday.
So far, 16 pilgrims, who have returned from Maharashtra’s Nanded have tested positive for the deadly virus.
Two women and a child were found positive for the deadly infection in Hoshiarpur’s Moranwali. With this there are four active cases in the district and the Covid-19 count is 11.
In Faridkot, two women in their 60s were admitted to the isolation ward of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital at Faridkot. They are both residents of Sandhwan village block in Faridkot district. Now, there are four active Covid-19 cases in the district, while one patient has recovered.
Civil surgeon Dr Rajinder Kumar said, “Two of the 20 persons , who had returned to Faridkot, from Hazur Sahib have tested positive, while reports of 18 others are awaited. With this the total number of positive patients in the district has reached five. These pilgrims were quarantine at a government school after their return and we have initiated the contact tracing.”
The group of 20 had returned from Maharashtra’s Hazur Sahib on a bus on Sunday. All 20, belong to Sandhwan village in Kotkapura sub-division. They had gone on the pilgrimage in the first week of March, but they got stranded there after the lockdown.
50 MORE PILGRIMS EXPECTED, SAYS FARIDKOT DC
Deputy commissioner Kumar Saurabh Raj said around 50 more people, including 25 from Sandhwan and 12 from Pacca village, are expected to arrive here from Nanded within next the next 24 hours. He said administration had made the arrangements to quarantine all the persons retuning from Nanded.
Around 3,000-odd pilgrims had been stranded in Hazur Sahib, one of the five temporal seats of Sikhs, in Nanded district of Maharashtra after imposition of a nationwide lockdown. These pilgrims, which belong to different parts of Punjab, have been returning in batches.
Hoshiarpur-based residents photographed on their return from Nanded on Saturday.
SOCIAL DISTANCING GOES FOR A TOSS
Though the health department had said that pilgrims based in Moranwali, who returned from Nanded on Saturday, were quarantined as soon as they landed but sources say they first went to the village gurdwara to pay obeisance.
On Monday, some panchayat members also went to their residences to offer ‘siropas’ to them. The health workers are now busy identifying their contacts.
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