Ludhiana district logs third Covid death, SOPs missing during bypoll

Hindustan Times

6 hours ago

While the district on Thursday recorded third death due to COVID-19, the seriousness of the situation appeared to be lost on the officials at polling stations as the arrangement for masks were sparse with no enforcement.
An 82-year-old, who had tested positive for Covid on Tuesday succumbed to the infection. According to health officials, the man was admitted to the hospital for a heart attack and suffered from a serious lung ailment and was found positive only later upon testing. A doctor confirmed that he was being treated for heart attack only.
District election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Himanshu Jain had on Tuesday announced that comprehensive arrangements for masks, sanitisers, and other essential supplies will be ensured at all 194 polling stations for the Ludhiana West bypoll.
'We haven't received any such instruction from the higher ups to ensure that everyone is masked up. We do have masks, but those are kept inside. We aren't using them,' said the booth-level officer (BLO) Haresh Kumar at the booth at the Government School in PAU campus.
Bottles of sanitisers were kept on the tables with the EVMs and the staff said they all had masks, but none of them were wearing any.
The BLOs at the model booth at BVM School in Kitchlu Nagar also denied getting any instruction to ensure masks or other SOPs for COVID-19.
BLOs at the Government Senior Secondary School, Haibowal Khurd, said that while they sanitisers they didn't get any masks. Returning officer Rupinder Pal Singh, when approached, didn't respond to calls.
The district has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases since Monday. Of the 61 cases reported so far since last month, 24 have been reported only since Monday.
The district health department, after the cases saw an uptick on Monday, issued an advisory calling for people to ensure they wear masks in crowded places.
One positive case, a 51-year-old man, was confirmed in the district on Thursday also. He is hospitalised but reported to be stable. Of the total 61 cases reported so far, only 30 are positive at present. Of these, only four are hospitalised, while 26 are in home isolation and 28 have recovered so far.
As many as two people, one 40-year-old man and another 69-year-old woman, both suffering from comorbid conditions, had died of the infection late May. Most of the people reported so far, however, have been vaccinated for the disease.