As many as eight persons in Shivamogga who had returned from Ahmedabad have been tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
So far, Shivamogga district had remained free of COVID-19. Of the eight persons who tested positive, seven are from Shikaripur taluk while one person identified as P-814 is a resident of Tirthahalli taluk.
They had boarded a train to Ahmedabad in Davangere on March 5 to take part in a religious programme. Owing to the enforcement of lockdown, they were stranded in Ahmedabad. After the inter-State travel restrictions were relaxed, they had taken permission from the authorities concerned to return to their native places.
On their arrival to the district on Saturday, they were taken to the campus of Sahyadri College here for medical examination and were quarantined at a hostel on the outskirts of the city. After their nasal and throat swabs were tested positive at Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory here on Sunday, they were shifted to the designated hospital in the city for treatment.
As many as five medical staff including the doctors and nurses who had examined them and five staff serving at the hostel where they were accommodated on Saturday have been quarantined now.