167 Persons ‘Suspected to Have Coronavirus’ Missing in Ludhiana

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: PTI)

In Ludhiana, at least 167 people suspected to have coronavirus are missing, while only 29 have been traced, said Dr Rajesh Bagga, the city's civil surgeon.

However, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the missing persons were not COVID-19 suspected cases but were merely people with foreign travel history who could not be traced due to incomplete contact details, ANI reported.

Medical officials in Punjab had received a list of people who have recently returned to India and have been tracking down people on the list to evaluate and confirm for coronavirus.

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agga told ANI, "Two teams have been tasked to find people coming from abroad, in which police have been given responsibility for finding 119 people. They have found 12 people so far and the other team is from the health department, in which they were given the responsibility to find 77 people."

He continued, “17 people have been traced by the health department team. The rest of 167 people are still missing in Ludhiana.”

He also mentioned that the primary difficulty behind searching for these people is that they do not have the correct addresses and telephone numbers.

"Our teams are active and searching for them. They will be traced soon," he added.

At the Ludhiana Railway Station, sanitisation measures have also been taken as a precautionary step to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government has constituted the Inter-Departmental Coordination Committee with the Secretaries of Line Departments for concerted measurements to containment and surveillance of coronavirus.

The committee consists of Principal Secretary of Finance Department, Special Chief Secretary of Health Medical and Family Welfare Department and Principal Secretary of Home Department.

Meanwhile, in a bid to combat the spread of the virus, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has appealed religious organisations to keep gatherings to fewer than 50 people.

(With inputs from ANI)