Punjab reports third Covid-19 death

One more person died from Covid-19 in Punjab on Monday, taking the toll to three. The 42-year-old patient from Ludhiana was diagnosed positive after death, doctors said.

So far, 41 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the state.

She had been referred with acute respiratory syndrome to the Government Medical College, Patiala, on Sunday. Patiala Civil Surgeon Harish Malhotra told the media that after the death, her test reports confirmed that she was suffering from coronavirus.

The state had reported second death on Sunday. He was in close contact with the state's first Covid-19 casualty Baldev Singh. Both were 'granthis' -- the keeper and reader of the Sikh scripture.

They had returned from Germany and Italy and mingled freely with the people despite the home isolation advisory on landing at the IGI Airport in New Delhi on March 7.

Harbhajan Singh, 62, who died on Sunday due to cardiac arrest, was a resident of Hoshiarpur. He was undergoing treatment at Government Medical Hospital, Amritsar. Harbhajan Singh's wife, son, daughter-in-law and a neighbour are undergoing coronavirus treatment at Hoshiarpur.

Harbhajan Singh, a diabetic, was suffering from hypertension.

So far around 70 per cent of Punjab's positive cases have been traced to Baldev Singh, a resident of Banga town in the Nawanshahr district, who died from heart attack, but was diagnosed coronavirus positive after death.

Baldev Singh is suspected to have infected 27 people, comprising 14 family members.

The state government has been tracing Baldev Singh's acquaintances in Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts, the hotbed of NRIs.

Earlier in the day, two persons tested positive. One, a Mohali resident, is undergoing treatment at the PGI Hospital here, and another with travel history to Dubai is hospitalised at the Government Medical College, Patiala.

Of the 41 cases in the state, 19 have been reported from Nawanshahr, seven from Mohali, six from Hoshiarpur, five from Jalandhar, two from Ludhiana and one each from Amritsar and Ludhiana. The state on March 9 tested the first positive case for the coronavirus. IANS