167 missing are not COVID-19 suspected cases but people with foreign travel history: Punjab govt

Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Wednesday clarified that the 167 missing people referred to by Ludhiana civil surgeon were not COVID-19 suspected cases but were merely people with foreign travel history who could not be traced due to incomplete contact details.

Earlier Dr Rajesh Bagga, Ludhiana civil surgeon had said: "At least 167 people suspected of having coronavirus have been missing in Ludhiana while only 29 have been traced."

Medical officials in Punjab had received a list of people who have recently returned to India and have been tracking down people on the list in a bid to ascertain infections if any.

"Two teams have been tasked to find people coming from abroad, in which police have been given responsibility for finding 119 people. They have found 12 people so far and the other team is from the health department, in which they were given the responsibility to find 77 people," he told ANI.

"17 people have been traced by the health department team. The rest of 167 people are still missing in Ludhiana," he added.

Kumar mentioned that the main reason they are not able to trace all of them is due to either wrong address in the passport and telephone number.

"The main reason behind this issue is that these people do not have the correct addresses and telephone numbers. It seems that the address and telephone numbers have changed," he said.

"Our teams are active and searching for them. They will be traced soon," Kumar added.

Sanitisation measures have been taken at Ludhiana Railway Station as a precautionary step to contain the spread of COVID-19.