Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18

Not a single suspected coronavirus patient is either missing or absconding in Punjab, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu clarified on Wednesday. He categorically rejected media reports to the contrary as “irresponsible and incorrect”.

The 167 missing persons referred to by Ludhiana civil surgeon were not Covid suspected cases but were merely people with foreign travel history who could not be traced due to incomplete contact details shared by the Central Government, said Sidhu, amid reports suggesting that they were suspected cases who had absconded or gone missing.

All these persons had already been screened at the airports in Delhi, said the minister, adding that since the outbreak, the Centre had been sharing reports of passengers with international travel with all states, including Punjab. “While those found symptomatic are admitted in hospital and kept in isolation, as per protocol, the lists of asymptomatic passengers are shared with the state concerned,” he said, adding that as a matter of precaution, the Punjab Government contacted these passengers to re-verify their history and medical condition.

In this case, the contact details of 335 passengers shared by the Centre were incomplete and lists of these passengers were shared with the district administration and the Centre was also duly informed, Sidhu disclosed.