Health Dept Now Says Over 55K NRIs Arrived In Punjab

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Officials told to quarantine all those who came after Jan 30.

PATIALA – After initially stating the number of passengers who arrived in the state in the last about two months at one lakh, the Health Department has now found that the actual number of such persons is 55,669.

The department has raised concern as many are violating the quarantine guidelines. Amid fear of Covid spread in the state, fresh directions have been issued to all divisional, deputy and police commissioners to trace and quarantine all passengers who arrived in the state after January 30.

As per the orders by Additional Chief Secretary Satish Chandra, DCs have been told to divide the districts into sectors and appoint officers for systematic tracing of passengers. “The persons under quarantine are to be observed regularly by the surveillance team and if any one of them is found to have Covid symptoms, he/she be tested immediately,” it says.

Last week, in a letter to Centre, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu had written that Punjab had the maximum number of NRIs in the country and about 90,000 of them had landed in the state this month.

Jalandhar sees maximum arrivals

Jalandhar 13,723

Amritsar 9,950

Ludhiana 9,281

Hoshiarpur 6,211

Kapurthala 1,990

Gurdaspur 1,813

Patiala 1,827

SBS Nagar 1,605

Moga 1,342

SAS Nagar 1,123

Tarn Taran 1,071