Door-to-door survey, traffic curbs in Anandpur Sahib after COVID positive man visits city

The Rupnagar district administration in Punjab on Friday imposed curbs on vehicle traffic and initiated a door-to-door survey in Anandpur Sahib city to check people with any symptom of coronavirus infection.

The move was taken after it came to fore that a 70-year-old man, a resident of Nawanshahr, who tested positive for the deadly infection had attended Hola Mohalla functions in Anandpur Sahib10 days ago.

The septuagenarian who returned from Germany via Italy on March 7 died at a hospital in Nawanshahr district after severe chest pain.

"We are conducting survey of all 4,100 houses in Anandpur Sahib city to check anyone showing symptoms (of coronavirus) or now," Rupnagar Deputy Commissioner Sonali Giri told PTI.

A total of 52 teams have been deployed for conducting the survey which may take at least two to three days to complete, she said.

The authorities were also trying to identify those people with whom the 70-year-old man had come into contact and locate his place of stay at Anandpur Sahib, as part of the containment plan.

"Residents of Anandpur Sahib are not being allowed to move out of their homes till the survey is done. We are just allowing them to move out for buying essential items," Giri said, adding that all other shops, except essential items, grocery and medicine, have been closed down.

The authorities have also closed all road entry points to the city and diverted traffic to other routes, officials said.

During the annual Hola Mohalla celebrations, thousands of Sikh devotees from India and abroad assemble at Anandpur Sahib to pay obeisance at the Gurdwara Kesgarh Sahib and take a dip in the holy Sarovar.

Meanwhile, Nawanshahr district authorities have identified 56 people in Pathlawa village who will be quarantined at home, the officials said.