M A I N   N E W S

Conflicting reports on SARS case
Varinder Walia and Ashok Sethi

Amritsar, April 30
Conflicting reports on the status of Mr Partap Singh Arora (65), a suspected case of SARS, have compounded the confusion even as the local health authorities have pressed the panic button.

Though earlier reports from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi, informed the health authorities here that the polymerase chain reaction was positive for SARS, they were later directed to ‘suppress the news’. While Dr Kanwaljit Singh, Civil Surgeon, claimed that Dr Shiv Lal, Additional Director-General, NICD, had informed him that there was ‘status quo’ so far as tests of Mr Arora were concerned. Dr Harsharn Kaur, senior physician of Ram Saran Dass Kakkar Hospital, where the patient is under treatment, claimed that she had personally spoken to the lab in charge of the NICD who confirmed that ‘corona virus’ was found which was similar to that of SARS.

The final report had yet to be released, she added.