'Corona-positive Karnal man dies in PGIEMR as six more tested positive in Haryana'

A 58-year-old man from a village in Haryana's Karnal district, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died at the PGIMER here on Sunday, Karnal's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ashwani Kumar said.

Haryana's second COVID-19-related death occurred on a day when six more persons were tested positive for coronavirus in the state with the number of cases rising to 76 on Sunday.

The patient, who died in PGIMR, Chandigarh, tested positive for coronavirus infection on April 2 and was also having underlying health conditions including diabetes and asthma, karnal CMO told PTI over phone.

He said some of the Karnal villager's family members too have been kept under isolation at Kalpana Chawla Medical College, Karnal.

“The report of three of his family members has come, which is negative while the report of nine others is awaited,” he said.

Haryana had recorded its first COVID-19 death on Wednesday when a 67-year-old man from Ambala district, who, according to doctors, had underlying health conditions, had also passed away at PGIMER here.

Haryana has so far reported 76 positive cases and the patient who passed away was the only positive case from Karnal district so far.

Out of total positive cases in the state, 15 have been discharged. The fresh cases reported on Sunday included five from Nuh and one from Gurugram.

Home Minister Anil Vij on Sunday said 29 of the total positive cases are of the Tablighi Jamaat members.

Amid reports that there could be a few more Jamaat members in the state who were yet to be tracked down, Vij said, “While we believe we have tracked all of them, but if a few of them could still be hiding, they should themselves report to the concerned district administration so that they could be quarantined.

“However, if they fail to do so over the next couple of days, then strict action as per law will be taken against them,” he said.

Haryana has so far reported one death due to COVID-19 after a 67-year-old man from Ambala district passed away at PGIMER earlier.

Of the total 76 cases, four are Sri Lankan nationals and one is from Nepal while 20 are from other states of India, the bulletin said.

Vij said earlier as many as 652 of the 1,300 Tablighi members had been traced from Nuh district alone.

Over 1,300 Tablighi Jamaat members, including 107 foreigners, came to Haryana before the lockdown came into force on March 25, Director General of Police Manoj Yadava had said on Friday.

All of them have been quarantined, DGP had said, adding five FIRs have been registered under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Foreigner's Act against the foreigners among the Tablighi Jamaat members for various violations.

Vij, meanwhile, said tenders had recently been floated and now four firms will be supplying 1,000 each Personal Protection Equipment needed by doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff at the frontline of battle against COVID-19.

Officials said that intensive testing will be done in districts including Nuh, Palwal, Gurugram, Panipat and Faridabad, which have seen maximum cases.

Micro plan/containment plan are being prepared for district of Faridabad, Gurugram and Ambala.

On the lockdown in the state, he said while it took couple of days initially to persuade people to stay indoors, but now they were complying with the government orders.

“People are showing great restraint and cooperating with the authorities,” said Vij.

Meanwhile, supervisory officer would be appointed at five private labs to monitor the updation of data related to COVID-19 testing.

Haryana Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora on Sunday directed the district Deputy Commissioners of the state to prepare and implement plans at the micro-level in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their respective districts.