RAWALPINDI: The Adiala jail colony was sealed after the husband of a female medical officer tested positive for Covid-19 and samples of 42 people including jail staff members were sent to laboratory for testing.

The hospital was also closed after the death of a dental technician though his Covid-19 report was negative.

On the other hand, one of the under-trial prisoners in sub-jail Chakwal tested positive for the coronavirus and he had been isolated in the prison facility which had already been overcrowded.

The jail authorities said they had been taking all precautionary measures to combat spread of virus as the prisoner was tested again on Wednesday and results are awaited.

The lady doctor had been on leave since May 31,though she tested negative for the virus.

Her husband, a deputy district health officer in Rawalpindi, tested positive for the corona virus and is residing with his wife in the jail colony.

Besides, samples of staff of the office of Rawalpindi region deputy inspector general of prison had been sent to the National Institute of Health and results are awaited.

When contacted, inspector general of prison Punjab Shahid Saleem Baig told Dawn after the death of dental technician on Thursday night the jail colony and hospital had been sealed.

The IGP said a health department team had been in Adiala jail since Saturday and was collecting samples of jail staff as every member of jail staff will be tested for coronavirus.

Adiala jail Superintendent Saqib Nazir told Dawn the dental technician had no symptoms of coronavirus as he had been a diabetic and hypertension patient and was also having cardiac problems. When his condition deteriorated on Thursday, he was shifted to a Rawalpindi hospital where he was pronounced dead due to heart attack, he said.

After the death of the dental technician, the samples of eight staff members of the jail hospital and all those prisoners who had been examined in the jail hospital during the last 15 days were sent to the laboratory for a coronavirus test.

He said all precautionary measures including provision of personal protection equipment had been provided to the jail hospital staff.

Relatives’ visits to Punjab prisons had already been banned after the coronavirus outbreak. Enforcing inmates to observe social distancing had been impossible in overcrowded jails across the province increasing the risk of spread of deadly virus among prisoners.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2020