Over 48% stranded Punjabis are already back in state

CHANDIGARH: Over 48% of Punjab residents stranded in other parts of the country and aboard have so far made their way back.

A total of 89,194 people had registered with the Punjab government expressing their intent to return, of which 79,382 were from within India and 9,182 from other countries.

As on May 26, 43,318 returned to Punjab and 40,285 came back by road, 2,165 by flights and 866 by trains.

The number is expected to go up in coming days as domestic flights have resumed operations and eight trains are scheduled to arrive in Punjab in first week of June.

The heavy inwards movement of people has put additional burden on the testing capacity in Punjab. In the last one week, the cumulative samples collected and tested recorded an increase at an average daily rate of 3.2% and 3.5%, respectively. Atotal of 23 international travelers and about 50 people coming from other states have tested positive so far. Despite the rise, Punjab’s testing per million rate of 2,314 tests per million remains lower than national average of 2,321tests per million.

Maximum number of 18,560 people registered to return are from Ludhiana, followed by 7,648 Mohali residents stranded outside the state. As many as 7,296 and 6,437 people from Amritsar and Gurdaspur , respectively, had expressed desire to return.

Those entering the state are tested and if found positive are sent to health facilities while asymptomatic passengers who are tested negative are be taken into institutional quarantine — government and hotel — on payment basis and are tested on the fifth day. If tested negative, they are allowed to go home after completion of 7 days of institutional quarantine and are asked to stay in home quarantine.

To ensure that no one enters the state without being medically screened, Punjab had notified the entry points into the state and sealed all other entry points on the roads with all the neighbouring states.