Bengaluru: ‘Dad dead’ lie got him past cops, but not coronavirus

Nithya Mandyam | TNN | Updated: Apr 16, 2020, 07:59 IST

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BENGALURU: A 26-year-old construction worker, who rode his two-wheeler from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru, getting past police checkposts by allegedly lying that his father had died, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is being treated at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD).
The boy’s father – very much alive – has also been quarantined at Sir CV Raman General Hospital in Indiranagar since he is now a primary contact of a positive patient.
When BBMP health officials questioned the youth he was evasive and vague on details but came clean when the police got involved. Officials are now tracing his contacts. He told officials he might have contracted the virus in a Hindupur market.
The youth left Hindupur early on Monday and arrived in Bengaluru – 103km – away at around 9.30am. He told police who stopped him at several places en route that his father had died of cancer and he had to rush home for the last rites.
At his home in Halagevaderahalli, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Bengaluru, he spent his time with his father, mother, brother, sister and her one-year-old daughter, watched movies and also stepped out to buy provisions from a nearby grocer.
That afternoon, the boy took his father to a nursing home near Race Course Road for a routine check-up for diabetes. “While his dad was being checked, the youth suffered bouts of severe cough and experienced discomfort in breathing. When he told doctors at the nursing home of his symptoms, they asked him to rush to RGICD,” a senior BBMP official told TOI.
At RGICD, the youth’s throat swab samples were collected and by Wednesday he was declared positive for Covid-19. Once, the confirmation came, BBMP health officials swung into action, putting in place containment measures as also tracing his contacts.
Officials have sealed off Halagevaderahalli, which has a population of 750 people and 1,300 homes. Twenty-five teams are monitoring the entire locality and conducting door-to-door visits to screen people. Five primary contacts and 10 secondary contacts are all in hospital and being monitored.