Chandigarh: Four students from Ludhiana, who returned from Kota, Rajasthan, earlier this week, have tested positive for Covid-19. The students were among 33 fresh cases of coronavirus recorded in Punjab Wednesday, which saw one of the highest single-day spikes in the state. Punjab has so far recorded 375 coronavirus cases.
The cases come on a day when the central government has asked states around India to facilitate the return of stranded migrant workers and students home.
Since the weekend, Punjab has seen hundreds of pilgrims and students return to the state. On Monday, eight pilgrims brought back from Nanded in Maharashtra tested positive for coronavirus.
To prevent the returnees from infecting others, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has announced a compulsory government quarantine of 21 days for all returnees.
When the first set of buses arrived in Punjab, people were only checked for symptoms and asked to quarantine themselves at home.
Lockdown extended in state
CM Amarinder Wednesday also announced a 15-day extension of the Covid-19 curfew. This means that while the nationwide lockdown is scheduled to end 3 May, Punjab will continue to enforce the restrictions until 18 May at least, with a few exemptions during fixed hours.
The Punjab government registered the source of infection for the students and Nanded pilgrims as being “outside the state”, which means they already had the infection when they entered the state.
According to sources in the state government, most of the students leaving Kota were examined before they boarded buses and had not shown any symptoms of the disease.
The students who have tested positive are now under government quarantine, said Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, who is overseeing the state government’s efforts to control the pandemic.
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Bringing back stranded residents
Since the weekend, nearly 3,700 pilgrims have left Nanded for Punjab, with the state government also working to bring back students stranded in Kota.
The pilgrims had visited Nanded to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Hazur Sahib and had been stranded there for over a month, living together at the shrine complex.
The majority of the students in Kota, meanwhile, are in Class 12 and preparing for their entrance exams. They are known to live at paying-guest accommodations in groups.
As of Wednesday, the state had brought back 152 students from Rajasthan.
“The entire lot of 152 students has already arrived in Punjab while the last of the buses from Nanded are expected to arrive any time now,” said Rajdeep Kaur, a senior government officer posted in the state’s Covid-19 control room.
On Wednesday, nearly 2,800 students started their journey from Kota to West Bengal, while another 1,780 set off for Maharashtra.
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