Covid moves further into Karnataka's hinterland

BAGALKOT: 70-year-old patient from Bagalkot, who had tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, died on Friday evening, district authorities confirmed. The victim, a resident of old Bagalkot town, was an oil merchant. Strangely, he did not have any history of travelling abroad or coming in contact with any of the infected persons. But he developed the symptoms after his son, who works at a software company in Bengaluru, visited the family. The district administration had sent his three throat swabs for testing on Wednesday.

While two were negative, one returned positive. Deputy Commissioner Capt Dr K Rajendra said, “Though the state has been reporting COVID cases for the last four week, this is the first case in the district.” He said, “A week ago, his son came home. We suspect that he developed the symptoms only after coming in contact with his son. We are collecting throat swabs of the entire family, including his son. Soon after the test came positive, we placed all his family members and relatives under quarantine at the district hospital.

A team is also on the job to trace the people who came in contact with him.” Superintendent of Police P Lokesh Jagalasar said, “As there is a chance of contamination, we have cordoned off areas around the locality where the infected person stayed. A special team is being formed to enforce the guidelines issued by higher authorities. We have ordered all the shops in old Bagalkot town to shut and the daily market will not open from tomorrow (Saturday) till further orders.

” A health bulletin issued by the district administration stated that 168 people are under observation. Of them, 154 are under home quarantine, while 14 are under isolation at the state-run hospital. The district administration has also identified 17 people who took part in the Tablighi Jamaat meet at Nizamuddin and four of them have been put under quarantine. The remaining 13 are yet to return to the district.