Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
Punjab man, who returned from Germany and died on March 18 after testing positive for COVID-19 coronavirus, is learnt to have infected at least 23 people of the state’s 33 cases.
The 70-year-old man, a Gurudwara priest, had returned from Germany through Italy on March 7 and died at a hospital in Punjab’s Nawanshahr district after a severe chest pain.
The man, who had defied self-quarantine rules and socialized heavily, has reportedly met close to 100 people before being tested positive for coronavirus. He and his two travel companions are believed to have visited 15 villages across the state, which have been currently sealed.
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In his family, so far 14 people have tested positive and his two grandchildren are learnt to have met scores of people.
Meanwhile, authorities are tracking his movements and the people he might have met before he died.
It is believed that the man and two of his friends caused coronavirus positive cases in Nawanshahr, Mohali, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar.
As Punjab’s coronavirus cases spiked, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday asked authorities to give the highest importance to tracing all international passengers who arrived after March 10 to prevent the virus’ spread.
He directed the Health Department and the police to ensure further monitoring of those already traced and placed under home quarantine.
The Chief Minister’s fresh directive assumes significance as over 94,000 NRIs have returned to the state and 30,000 of them were placed in isolation.
Across India, the number of Coronavirus cases has risen to 724 with 17 deaths.
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