Nine positive seals Bengaluru ward; death toll rises to 18

BENGALURU: After having witnessed no new cases for three days between Sunday and Tuesday, Bengaluru was back in the spotlight, recording 10 of the 18 fresh cases on Thursday. Among them are nine contacts of a 54-year-old migrant worker from Bihar (Patient 419) with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) symptoms, all residents of Hongasandra ward coming under Bommanahalli zone in Bengaluru.

Following the detection of these cases, the ward will be sealed off, according to Minister S Suresh Kumar, and Dr B K Vijendra, Chief Health Officer, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Corporation Commissioner B H Anil Kumar added that they are monitoring the situation in the area closely. In another case in the city, a 41-year-old male, who was a contact of Patient 252, also tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

The state also witnessed the 18th casualty on Thursday with the death of a 78-year-old woman (Patient 432) from Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district. She was the contact of Patient 390, a 50-year-old woman with SARI symptoms.  She had hypertension, suffered from stroke and pneumonia, and died at Wenlock District Hospital. The total number of coronavirus cases in the state now stands at 447. While Vijayapura, Hubballi-Dharwad and Mandya recorded two cases each, Kalaburagi witnessed one fresh case.

140 quarantined in connection with Hongasandra case

Patient 419 is a scrapyard worker from Bihar who lived in sheds in Hongasandra. Living in close proximity led to four of his roommates and five other neighbours contracting the disease.

“He had fever and went to Venu Health Centre where he was treated for typhoid. Initially, he got better but developed chest pain later, which is when he approached Jayadeva Hospital and availed treatment.

However, he developed respiratory issues and went to Victoria Hospital from where he was redirected to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases,” said a BBMP official. Those who got the infection from him are three 30-year-old males, a 22-year old male, a 40-year-old male, a 25-year-old male, a 37-year-old male, a 43-year-old male and a 24-year-old male. Minister Suresh Kumar said that 140 people have been quarantined in connection with this case.

“Action will be taken against the private hospital for not alerting the officials about the worker from Bihar,” he said. Sources said that three staffers of Venu Health Centre, a helper and a doctor were also quarantined. Some of the people quarantined have been sent for testing to RGICD and C V Raman General Hospital. In the other districts, two cases were reported from Vijayapura, including a 32-year-old male who got the infection from Patient 221, and a 25-year-old female whose contact tracing is in progress.

The 25-year-old woman is a PG student who worked in BLDE Hospital and treated Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) patients, after which she contracted the virus. The BLDE Hospital staff, along with the district administration, are tracing her primary and secondary contacts. She lived and studied in the BLDE College campus. Two cases were reported from Hubballi-Dharwad district including a 30-year-old female and a 13-year-old female, both of whom were contacts of Patient 236.

A lone case was reported from Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district of a 78-year-old woman who was a contact of Patient 390. Mandya district also reported two cases — a 47-year-old male who was a contact of Patients 171 and 371, and a 28-year-old female who was a contact of Patient 179. Another case was confirmed from Kalaburagi where a 32-year-old male who was a contact of Patient 413, tested positive.

14 PATIENTS DISCHARGED
Fourteen patients were discharged on Thursday including nine from Bidar, three from Ballari, one from
Chikkaballlapur and one from Bengaluru.

62% PATIENTS IN STATE ASYMPTOMATIC
100 samples will be tested from the 10 non-COVID districts. Of the 4,631 samples taken so far, 3,146 have tested negative. 62 per cent of patients in the state are asymptomatic