Punjab: Leaves of medical staff cancelled to keep watch on coronavirus

The Punjab government on Wednesday cancelled leaves of the health department staff engaged in keeping a watch on coronavirus.

"The state government issued the instructions to cancel the holidays/leaves of all the key staff engaged in the reporting and management for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease)," said a government release.

"In the wake of COVID-19, staff working for surveillance of coronavirus, reporting, tracing and management will only be granted the leave after getting sanction from the Directorate Health Services so that screening as well as test process of the suspected passengers would not affect," Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said on Wednesday.

The government said the State Surveillance Unit will be monitoring the situation and all the surveillance activities for coronavirus disease in the state. Sidhu said a total of 35 persons with coronavirus-like symptoms in Punjab have tested negative. The minister said till date a total of 22,236 passengers have been screened at the international airports of Amritsar and Mohali.

He also said 16,549 passengers were screened at Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar and 5,687 passengers were screened at Dera Baba Nanak check post in Gurdaspur. Sidhu further said of the 1,517 passengers with travel history to China or transit stay at airports, 35 samples were collected for testing and all these were tested negative by the National Institute of Virology in Pune.