Farmers Movement Archive

5 villages in Punjab’s Mansa district sealed in a week amid spurt in infections, deaths

The district authorities in Mansa have sealed five villages in the past one week amid an increase in coronavirus infections and deaths. On Saturday, Joga village the district’s Bhikhi block was sealed for the next 10 days. The village with a population of about 11,000 has witnessed 10 Covid-19 deaths and 96 active cases since May 1. Nangal Kalan, Khiala Kalan, Akkanwali, Phapphre Bhai Ke villages of the district have also been declared containment zone since May 10. One urban pocket each in the towns of Mansa and Budladha have also been declared containment zones in the past week.Joga is among several villages from where the majority of adult rural population is participating in the ongoing farmers’ agitation at the Delhi borders. It is for the first time that villages in Mansa have been declared containment zone after the second wave of pandemic hit the state. An area is declared a containment zone after more than 15 cases of virus infections are detected there. “House-to-house screening has begun. Healthcare teams are trying to convince villagers to follow Covid guidelines. We were able to vaccinate nearly 500 residents and a section is hesitant to take jabs,” said Dr Hardeep Sharma, senior medical officer of Khiala Kalan public health centre.Khiala Kalan, which has 34 active cases, has reported two Covid-deaths in the last two weeks. On Sunday, two residents from the Khiala Kalan block, including a 27-year-old man, succumbed to the virus. As many 92 residents from the block were tested positive on Sunday.With four deaths and 298 cases reported on Sunday, the number of active cases in the district reached 3,299. Since May 1, the district reported 5,164 new cases of infection and witnessed 52 Covid deaths. Deputy commissioner Mohinder Pal said police are strictly enforcing the containment protocol and unwanted movement of people has been barred to contain infection spread. “Most villagers were visiting dharna sites at very regular intervals. As they are falling sick in considerable numbers, villagers are reluctant to reveal details of their travel and places they visited. Ideally, they should have isolated themselves for five days after visiting the venue of a large gathering,” said a district official.Mansa civil surgeon Dr Sukhwinder Singh said a section of people were falsely claiming that 5G radiation emitted from mobile phone towers is causing the second wave of Covid and people should refrain from such misinformation,” he said.On May 14, Haryana president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who has been mobilising farmers of Punjab and other states to join the dharna sites at the Delhi border, claimed in a Facebook video that deaths caused by 5G network were being attributed to the coronavirus.

Hindustan Times

17-05-2021

Chandigarh