Italy-returned Hoshiarpur man tests corona positive in first case of Punjab: Health Secy

A Hoshiarpur native, who returned from Italy last week, has been tested positive for coronavirus afflictions, becoming the first such case in Punjab, an official said here on Monday. "The man who returned to Amritsar by an Air India flight from Milan in Italy has tested positive for coronavirus. He had landed at Amritsar International Airport via Delhi on March 4 along with his two other family members," Punjab Principal Secretary (Health) Anurag Aggarwal said.

The man's wife and child, however, have been tested negative for the corona-afflictions, said Aggarwal. The two too, however, have been kept in isolation at an Amritsar hospital, he added.

The patient is a resident of Hoshiarpur, he said, adding he and his family members were tracked to the Amritsar airport and got admitted to a government hospital in Amritsar on being suspected of having coranavirus-affliction symptoms. The family members' samples were subsequently sent to Delhi for investigation in which the man and wife tested positive for afflictions, but their child was found negative, said Aggarwal.

The samples of family members were subsequently sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, which confirmed on Monday that the man is suffering from coronavirus afflictions, said Agarwal. The NIV, Pune, however, found samples of man's wife and child negative for corona afflictions, he added.

The man's condition is "stable", the principal health secretary said. The total number of symptomatic cases of corona afflictions in Punjab as on Monday were ten, all of whom have been admitted to hospitals and kept under observation, said officials. The total number of patients who have tested negative are 58, while those who are under observation at their homes as on March 8 were 1,388 in the state.

The officials said over 79,000 passengers have been screened by health authorities at the International airports at Amritsar, Mohali, Wagah/Attari and Dera Baba Nanak checkposts. Punjab is on high alert in view of outbreak of coronavirus.

PTI VSD SUN RAX RAX.