Sudheer Chandra Sooda, District Health and Family Welfare Officer, said on Thursday that a 75-year-old man from a village in Udupi district, who had shown symptoms of COVID-19, had been admitted to the District Government Hospital on Wednesday [March 4] night.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Sooda said that the man and his wife had gone on a 10-day visit to Israel and returned on March 3. The man suffered from cold and cough, and showed symptoms of COVID-19. Soon he was shifted from his house to the isolation ward at the District Government Hospital here. His throat swabs, taken on Thursday, had been sent to the lab in Bengaluru to check for COVID-19. The report is expected in a couple of days. If the person tested negative, he will be discharged and sent home. But if the person tested positive, then he will be given treatment at the hospital. After his admission at the District Government Hospital, the condition of the person was improving, he said.
To a query, he said that the wife of the person had not shown any signs of COVID-19. Hence she had not been told to get admitted to the hospital, he said.
To another query, Dr. Sooda said that the health authorities got the list of people from the district who had visited foreign countries. They were brought to the hospital only if they showed symptoms of COVID-19. Else they would be told to stay in home isolation for two weeks, he said.
A five-bed isolation ward with two beds in ICU and three ventilators had already been set up at the District Government Hospital here and a three-bed isolation ward had been set up at the Taluk Government Hospital in Karkala and Kundapur for COVID-19, he said.
To another query, he said that the Director of Student Affairs had been told to keep a vigil on foreign students coming to Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Manipal.
“We are in constant touch with the authorities of MAHE,” Dr. Sooda added.