Dharamshala: The global pandemic has got to Himachal Pradesh, in North India, with two patients testing positive today. These are the first confirmatory tests of the dreaded disease being detected in the state.
Chief minister Jairam Thakur confirmed that two patients with a travel history have tested positive for COVID-19 in Kangra district. “The initial test results have turned out to be positive,” he said.
Of the two patients one is 63 year old woman who has returned from Dubai and the other is a young man of 34, who returned from Singapore. Both the patients are admitted at the isolation ward in RP Government Medical College, Tanda in Kangra. The families of the two patients have been quarantined.
District magistrate Rakesh Kumar Prajapati sought cooperation from the residents of the district in checking the spread of the virus. He said that to prevent the spread of corona virus, it was important that the citizens should share information about all those who have returned from abroad in the last 28 days.
The information could be shared with the chief medical officer of the district or can be conveyed to the administration over the toll free numbers of 104 and 1077.
Prajapati said, “ it is necessary for those who returned home after travelling abroad to undergo health check-up at the nearest health centres.”
“Those who disregarded these orders could be sentenced of two years of jail with a fine of Rs 50,000/- under section -270 of the IPC,” warned the district magistrate.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
