Two new Covid-19 cases were detected in Paonta Sahib, taking the tally of positive cases to four in Sirmaur district.

A 30-year-old woman and her seven-year-old daughter have tested positive for coronavirus.

Random sampling of 64 returnees from various states was conducted and the samples were sent to CRI Kasauli.

The mother and daughter were in home quarantine since their return. They have been sent to Covid care hospital at Sarahan. The DC said that they were asymptomatic.

The woman’s husband, who had not gone to Delhi, would also be tested, while their two-and-a-half-year old son tested negative.

The two previous Covid positive cases detected in Sirmaur have already been cured and were in isolation at Baddi.

One more tests positive for corona in Kangra

Dharamsala: One more person tested positive for coronavirus in Kangra district, taking the total number of positive patients in the district to 17.

The woman had returned from Mumbai in a taxi on May 7. She is a software engineer in Mumbai.

Kangra’s Chief Medical Officer GD Gupta said that the patient was from Gurkhari village near Kangra. She was symptomatic and had herself reported to the health authorities for testing on May 12. She has been shifted to Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala.

Kangra has seen one death, while four persons have been cured. There are 12 active cases.

Source : The Tribune

Five more persons, including a 28-year-doctor from Tanda medical college, tested positive in Kangra district yesterday. The doctor was posted in the Covid ward and was in quarantine.

Himachal Pradesh reported six more coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking the infection tally in the state to 66, a senior health official said.

Two more persons tested positive for coronavirus in Kangra and Hamirpur districts today, taking the tally of patients in the state to 52. In Kangra district, the number of cases has risen to eight — three active cases that have come to light in the last three days, one death and four patients who have been cured.

Kangra DC Rakesh Prajapati said that the person, who tested positive today, belongs to Ghena village in the Baba Baroh area of Kangra district. He used to stay in Delhi in the house of a person who tested positive yesterday in the Badsar area of Hamirpur.

“Yesterday, we got information from the Hamirpur authorities that he was staying in Delhi with the native of Baba Baroh before returning to Kangra on April 23.

He was shifted to the Dharamsala Zonal hospital Friday evening and kept in isolation. He was totally asymptomatic though he had stayed with a coronavirus positive person. Now, that he has tested positive, his family members have also been put in quarantine,” said Prajapati.

The Hamirpur man, who tested positive today, had come from Delhi on May 6 and was admitted to Hamirpur medical college.

55 test negative in Mandi

Mandi: Medical reports of all primary contacts of Covid-19 patients in Mandi district have come out negative, giving a big relief to the health authorities. CMO Jeevanand Chauhan said the test reports of all 55 primary contacts of Covid-19 patients were negative.

Warriors welcomed

Hamirpur: Roses were showered on corona warriors of Dr Radhakrishanan Medical College and Hospital here on Saturday on their return from a dedicated Covid hospital in Bhota. A team of 20 members — doctors, nurses and paramedical staff — arrived at the hospital after 28 days. The team was rushed to the Covid hospital after a patient from Una was sent here. Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal of the college, said the team had to stay in quarantine for 14 days. He added that the medical college had constituted three teams of dedicated staff to serve Covid-19 patients. — OC

Source : The Tribune

Since he had mild symptoms, his sample was taken on May 6 and sent to the Institute of Himalayan Biotechnology, Palampur. The report came as positive today. With this, the tally in the district rose to three. Two have already recovered.

Sources said the man was directed to follow home quarantine, but he was violating norms. He also visited a local barber.

The man lives in a joint family of 11. One of his sisters-in-law is a health worker and performing duty in the area. The movement of the patient has posed the risk for community spread in the area.

The patient has been shifted to Radhaswami Charitable Hospital, Bhota, and the samples of 15 of his primary contacts and 18 secondary contacts had been taken.

DC Harikesh Meena said the Bijhri panchyat had been declared a containment zone while the adjoining area had been notified as a buffer zone till further orders.

He said as the man violated home quarantine rule, action would be taken against him.

2-yr-old Chamba girl tests +ve

Dharamsala: Two-year-old daughter of a corona positive patient in Salooni area of Chamba district has tested positive for Covid 19.

The person was working as a truck driver in Baddi area of Solan district and had returned back to his home in Chamba. On May 5, he tested positive for corona. Though he was asymptomatic, he was tested in random samples taken by the health authorities.

Dr Rajesh Guleri, Chief Medical Officer, Chamba, said samples of all 38 contacts of two corona patients were sent for testing in which 37 have tested negative. But today two-year-old daughter of one of the patients tested positive. He said wife and two other daughters of the corona positive patient have, however, tested negative. Today’s case has taken total number of corona positive cases in Chamba district to eight.

Courier boy afllicted in Kangra

One more person, who had returned to Kangra from Delhi, has tested positive for Covid 19. The person had returned back to his native village Bala in Kangra sub division on April 28. He was working as courier boy in Delhi and had returned back after losing his job there. He had returned to Kangra in car along with two others.

The district administration authorities are now trying to locate and isolate the contacts of person who has tested positive. After this test report the total number of Corona cases in Kangra district has gone up to 7.

A woman, who had recently returned back to Una from Delhi, has tested positive in reports received by district administration of Una late in the evening. Deputy Commissioner Una, Sandeep Kumar confirmed that the lady, who was under institutional quarantine, has tested positive. This had taken the total number of corona positive cases in state to 50 and in Una district to 17.

Source : The Tribune

Shimla : Mother of the 21-year-old youth from Sarkaghat, who passed away due to coronavirus, has also tested positive on Thursday.

She accompanied her son during his treatment at Delhi for renal failure, and later, moved to Indira Gandhi Medical College, here.

According to the doctors, the 47-year-old woman, who has been quarantined since her son’s death, is in a good state of health.

With this, the number of coronavirus patients in Himachal has risen to 46.

Source : The Tribune

The worst fears of import of coronavirus by allowing the entry of thousands into Himachal seem to be coming true as a new positive case came to light today. The case has come at a time when Himachal was aiming to be corona-free as there was only one active case in Solan. Now, the number of total cases had risen to 41.

A 30-year-old youth of Jogindernagar in Mandi district, working in a multinational company in Delhi, tested positive. This is the first case of a person, who had entered the state on an e-pass issued by Mandi DC, testing positive for corona. The person, working in a telecom company, returned home on April 29 in a taxi along with three others. He has now been shifted to Nerchowk medical college while the administration will take the samples of his family and other contacts.

A 26-year-old girl, hailing from Gurdaspur, who had been residing at a labour hostel at Jhad Majri in Baddi, also tested positive at her native village in Gurdaspur, where she reached from Baddi on April 28. The case will be counted in Punjab.

The girl had been lodged in the hostel since lockdown but visited GMCH-32, Chandigarh, on April 26 as she was suffering from stones. Immediately after return, she fell sick and left for her home in Gurdaspur. The samples of 22 primary contacts, including other girls and the staff of the hostel, will be tested tomorrow.

Source : The Tribune

The government will provide HRTC buses to bring back Himachalis stranded in the tricity (Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and adjoining areas). On friday it had appointed nodal officers to bring back natives stranded in different states.

Buses will be available for Kangra, Chamba, Una and Hamirpur districts at Himachal Bhawan, Sector 28, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh, on May 3, 6 am onwards. People will be accommodated on the first come first served basis after a preliminary medical checkup, a spokesperson for the government said here today.

Photocopies of Aadhaar card or any other government identity proof would be required and boarding would be allowed only after medical examination, he added. Everyone would have to give an undertaking that they are not coronavirus positive.

Source : The Tribune

The central government has extended lockdown by two more weeks, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Friday.

The lockdown will be effective from May 4.

A press release issued by the MHA spells out new guidelines regulating activities during this period based on risk profiling of the country’s districts. MHA’s new guidelines divide the country into red, orange and green zones depending on coronavirus cases being reported.

The guidelines are mainly an attempt to restart a completely stalled economy, and provide some relaxations in green and orange zones.

Source : The Tribune

Over 23,000 people from Himachal Pradesh who were stranded outside the state due to the coronavirus lockdown have returned to their native places in their own vehicles in the last three days after getting e-passes from respective district magistrates, police said on Tuesday.

Thousands of people from the state are reportedly stranded in Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh and other parts of the country since the nationwide lockdown began on March 25. There is no information whether the state government is making any arrangement for their return.

As per data provided by Superintendent of Police (law and order) Khushal Sharma, a total of 23,361 stranded people from the state have returned to their native places in 6,396 vehicles from April 26 to April 28.

Director General of Police (DGP) Sita Ram Mardi said the residents should maintain social distancing on the HP-Punjab border near Una’s Mehatpur barrier while returning to the state.

He asked them to download Aarogya Setu app and remain in home quarantine for 14 days after returning to their native places.

Three days after The Indian Express reported how a 63-year-old who was dependent on oxygen was stuck in one room in his daughter’s PG room in Sector 11, Panchkula, the Himachal Pradesh government on Monday took back Sood and dropped him home at Jubbal safely.

The Haryana government too arranged Sood’s medicines and other essentials for the journey. On Sunday night, the Himachal government had issued the movement pass.

The Indian Express had reported how Sood whose lungs are just 27 per cent functioning and has other serious ailments had come with his wife to attend his daughter’s engagement but got stranded in one room due to the lockdown.

With an obsolete oxygen machine, the 63-year-old found it difficult to breathe and would even spend sleepless nights on a verandah attached to the room as the obsolete oxygen machine emitted a lot of heat, thereby suffocating the room.

After the story, a resident gave his new oxygen machine to Sood which does not emit heat.

Until the Himachal government completed the formalities of movement and medical procedure, the Haryana government too arranged ration and all other essentials required by Sood.

“We did not face any problem during the entire journey and everything was smooth. We thank everyone for their support and for saving my father,” Raashi, Sood’s daughter, said.

Source : The Indian Express

Shimla : Two more cases of Covid-19 infection have come to light, one each in Kangra and Chamba districts, taking the count to 35. Both were the natives of the state and had come back from Jalandhar.

Kangra district had earlier reported four positive patients. One of them, a Tibetan died in Tanda medical college on March 23. Two residents of Kangra with travel history had tested positive and were admitted to Tanda medical college. Both have been discharged from the hospital.

In Gangath, a person, who attended the Tablighi conference in Delhi, had tested positive. He has also been discharged from hospital. But the new case has increased the worries of the administration.

In Chamba district also, four persons, who had attended the conference, tested positive. All were admitted to medical college, Nerchowk, in Mandi.

Chamba CMO Dr Rajesh Guleri said the person, who tested positive, had come from Jalandhar and was kept under quarantine.

Source : The Tribune

Shimla : Even though the lockdown in the state is likely to be extended by another fortnight the government could allow manufacturing in the industrial area in a phased manner with ministers, senior bureaucrats and heads of department attending office with skeletal staff from April 16.

Sources said though a formal announcement of the extension of the lockdown till April 30 will be announced tomorrow after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address, a revival plan for the economy has been chalked out. The government has its revival plan ready to restore the economy and bring back normalcy.

The Cabinet will hold its meeting on April 15. From the next day efforts will be made to resume the normal functioning of the government as chief minister, ministers, secretaries and heads of department will attend office daily though with skeletal staff. The holiday in schools, colleges, universities and educational institutions will be extended for the time being.

Shimla : Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has dithered from making any announcement on the extension of curfew that expires on April 14, but the government is preparing a staggered exit plan to bring the state back to normalcy after a 21-day lockdown.

Presiding over a high-level meeting with top officials here today, the Chief Minister said the government would prepare the exit plan keeping in view the economic activity and food requirements of the vulnerable sections of society.

The Chief Minister, however, clarified that the exit plan would be initiated only and only when there was an initial flattening of infection curve and there follows a trend indicating that Himachal will reach a stage zero infection.

All identified hotspots would be isolated from other parts where no case was detected. The supply of food and other essential commodities would be entrusted with the police and the local administration in such areas, he added.

The plan would be prepared keeping in view health and economic variables as well. The capacity of the state’s healthcare system to protect public life, personnel discharging essential services and medical professionals deployed to stem the epidemic during the days to come and capacity to build resilience against the disease would be taken into consideration, he said.

Adviser, Planning, Dr Basu Sood made a presentation on the draft exit plan. Chief Secretary Anil Khachi, Director General of Police SR Mardi, Additional Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar and other officials were present to discuss the issue.

Source : The Tribune

Dharamsala : Timely lockdown, curfew and strict measures that forced people inside their homes have helped stem community spread of corona virus infection in Kangra district.

Kangra was the first district of the state which reported corona virus infections on March 21. Till date, four Covid-19 positive infection cases have been reported in the district. Out of these, one Covid positive patient, 69-year-old Tibetan, who had returned back from the USA, died in Tanda medical college on March 23.

Facilities at TMC

• 20 bed isolation facility in Tanda Medical College (TMC).
• 3 ventilators for Covid positive patients.
• 3 doctors and three nurses attend to Covid positive patients in an eight-hour shift.
• 9 doctors and nine nurses attend to patients in a day.
• 14 days doctors and nurses quarantined.
• 5 positive patients being treated in Kangra — one from the district and 4 from Una.

After his death the entire McLeodganj area was sealed on March 23 and restrictions on movement of people in the area continue till date.

Two local residents of Kangra — a lady from Dobh village in Shahpur sub-division, who had returned back from Dubai, and a youth, who returned from Singapore — were tested positive on March 21. They were immediately shifted to Tanda medical. Both of them have now been discharged from Tanda medical college after they tested negative.

Now Kangra has just one Covid 19 positive patient from Gangath area in Indora sub-division. He had attended the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi.

Gangath area has been declared a hotspot in Kangra district. Under directions of the state government nobody would be allowed inside or outside the Gangath area. Door-to-door checking would be conducted in Gangath area and people suffering from influenza or sore throat or fever would be tested and given hydroxychloroquine tablets, Deputy Commissioner Kangra, Rakesh Prajapati informed The Tribune.

Strict lockdown measures adopted by the administration have prevented the community spread of virus in the district. All the 50 persons, who came in direct contact with one remaining Covid positive patient, have tested negative. The contacts with other Covid infected people have also tested negative.

Doctors at Tanda medical college located in Kangra district have been treating the Covid positive patients from Kangra and Una districts. Though initially there was shortage of PPE suites and testing kits in Kangra, supplies have been received. The doctors who are treating the Covid positive patients have to be continuously on duty for eight hours after which they are replaced by other staff members. The doctors and paramedical staff who are treating the Covid positive patients have to be quarantined for 14 days in hotels arranged for them by the district administration.

Source : The Tribune

Shimla : The number of positive coronavirus cases in the state has shot up to 27 with nine contacts of confirmed Tablighi Jamaat followers from Una district testing positive.

A total of 79 samples were tested today and out of which nine, all close contacts of the three positive cases from Una, also tested positive. These nine positive cases are in the 16 to 75 age group. Late last night, four members of the Tablighi Jamaat had tested positive in the Tissa area of Chamba and were shifted to Government Medical College at Nerchwok in Chamba.

Meanwhile, the government has notified ESI Hospital at Katha in Solan district as the Covid treatment centre for Solan and Sirmour districts. “Patients who test positive but are asymptomatic will be treated at this hospital at Katha, which was today notified as a secondary-level dedicated isolation facility for the confirmed cases,” said RD Dhiman, Additional Chief Secretary, Health.

The Covid testing facility is now also available at the IGMC, Shimla, the Tanda medical college and at the Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today directed that an extensive campaign must be launched for contact mapping of Tablighi Jamaat infected persons so that it does not multiply further. He warned that the government would not hesitate in taking strict action against those who would conceal information about their travel history and those who give them shelter.

Thakur said under the Active Case Finding Campaign, information of 41 lakh people was collected by health workers during door-to-door campaign. He said 4,684 people have been kept under surveillance, out of which 2,188 have completed 28 days of surveillance period.

While two persons from Kangra have been discharged after recovery, four Delhi residents who were staying at a company guest house in Baddi had left for Delhi for treatment at a private hospital. One US- returned Tibetan is the lone coronavirus death in Himachal P radesh so far.

Corona Tracker

• Death 1
• Positive 27
• Samples tested 534
• Under surveillance 4,684
• 28-day quarantine completed 2,188

Covid-19 Case

DiSTRICT WISE COUNT –  District +ve deaths

• Kangra    4 – 1
• Solan      7 –
• Chamba 4 –
• Una       12 –
• Total      27 – 1

Source : The Truibune

Kullu/Bilaspur : A pall of gloom descended on Pueed village in the Kharahal valley of Kullu district as the body of martyred soldier Balkrishan (24) arrived at his native village Yesterday.

Balkrishan along with four other soldiers was martyred in a gun battle with terrorists in Kupwara district of north Kashmir on Sunday.

The body of the martyr was brought here in an Army helicopter from Pathankot to the SASE helipad at Manali in Kullu district yesterday afternoon.

From Manali, it was taken to Pueed village in an Army vehicle for cremation.