With seven new cases of Covid-19 reported from Jawarpur village of Dera Bassi town in Mohali, the count of positive patients in the district has risen to 26, which is the highest in Punjab.
All seven people are aged between 12 years and 50 years and are members of the families of the sarpanch and a panch of the village.
Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan and civil surgeon Dr Manjit Singh long with a health team are at the village, which which is located near Sethi Dhaba on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway and has been sealed.
Gurpreet Singh, a resident of the village, said: “The family members of the sarpanch and panch did not follow norms of social distancing and were distributing langar (free meals) to labourers and the needy. There was even a fight with locals over this after which the police were called. The police left after warning them.”
On Tuesday, the 38-year-old woman sarpanch and four members of her family tested positive for coronavirus.
On April 3, the 42-year-old panch was the first to test positive. The samples of his father, 67, brother, 38, and wife, 43, tested positive on Monday, while on Tuesday three more members of the panch’s family were found suffering from Covid-19.
All of them have been admitted to Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur.
Dera Bassi sub divisional magistrate Kuldeep Bawa said, “We are carrying out the contact tracing. The panch owns a tent house and was in touch with eight labourers. It is learnt that on March 31, he came in contact with a Muslim factory worker who is suspected of having met a Tablighi Jamaat attendee. Efforts are on to trace the factory worker.”
WhatsApp us