100 students, doctors of medical college in Punjab test positive
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Jan, 2022 12:25 PM
Chandigarh, Jan 4 (IANS) Nearly 100 students and resident doctors of the Government Medical College in Patiala in Punjab have tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday.
The district administration has asked all students staying at the hostel to vacate their rooms immediately.
A retirement party and New Year Eve's party held on the college campus without following appropriate Covid-19 behaviour is blamed for alarming spike in the cases.
This is the second education institution in the state that saw a spike in coronavirus cases. Earlier, 93 students of the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology in Patiala tested positive for Covid-19.
With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
The educational institutions include the schools, colleges, universities and the coaching institutions. However, these institutions are expected to maintain the academic schedule through online teaching.
However, medical and nursing colleges may continue to function normally.
Earlier, Dhesi sent a letter, signed by over 100 British MPs and Lords, to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the ongoing farmers' protests, asking him to raise this matter with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi when they next liaise.
The Chief Minister told the media here that for more than a year since the Central government had brought three agriculture laws for the benefit of farmers, especially small and marginal ones, unfortunately, some farmer unions had been protesting on the Delhi borders.
While the Centre's announcement to repeal three farm laws is seen as a political decision with eye on forthcoming assembly polls in five states, the BJP claims that it has nothing to do with elections as the party has won many states after laws were passed by the Parliament.
On January 12 this year, the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the three farm laws after scores of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh pitched their tents on various Delhi borders in protest against the three laws.
A nine-member committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the consortium of protesting farmers' bodies, will be meeting on Saturday, and it is likely to put forth four main demands. The meeting will also decide whether the SKM will go ahead with the originally announced 'March Towards Delhi' programme on November 26.
Congress legislator and Punjab unit party president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said the minimum support price (MSP) is the bigger issue than farm laws as it is the lifeline of farmers.
