Thermal scanning of passengers who arrived from Dubai at Mohali international airport on Monday. Express photo.
With the surge in Covid-19 cases in the district in the last few days, the district administration has been having a tough time keeping a check on people coming from other states as many, especially those coming from Delhi, don’t have the COVA app. A patient who was tested positive for the coronavirus in Delhi also managed to enter the district without any check.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Girish Dayalan told The Indian Express that it is not possible to physically check every person entering the district, which is creating an issue for them. He added that downloading the app was made mandatory for people to allow the district health department to track their movement.
“We are working on it. It is tough to keep a track of people entering the district by road. We have one case of a man who was tested positive in Delhi and he managed to enter the district by road, without any check. I feel there is laxity on part of the Delhi government,” the DC added.
Best of Express Premium
When asked about the administration’s plan to track the people entering the district, he added that they did not have the figures of the people who had come from other states but they will strengthen the nakas at the entry points.
“We will also contact some telecom companies so that we can reach out to the people who have come to Punjab from other states. Majority of the recently reported cases have a travel history,” he said.
Dayalan said that a total of 8,413 people have registered on the COVA app, out of which 3,675 have arrived in the state. He added that many people did not generate self e- passes, before entering the district.
Speaking further, Dayalan said that the passengers coming at the airport can easily be tracked and put under quarantine.
Passengers land from Dubai
As many as 177 passengers have arrived at Mohali from Dubai, on Monday. Dr Harmandeep Kaur said that all the passengers were put under quarantine as per the state’s protocol and that all patients are asymptomatic.
A spokesperson of International Airport at Mohali said that total 1,448 passengers had arrived from Delhi last week while 1,771 boarded from Mohali.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
