22 ‘mysterious’ deaths in 7 days lead to panic in Rohtak village

TITOLI ( ROHTAK): At least 22 persons have died at Titoli village of Haryana’s Rohtak district in the last seven days. All the deceased had fever causing panic among residents who attribute the deaths to Covid-19 infection. The village on Jind Road is barely 10 km from Rohtak city and is home to over 3,000 voters.
“The busy village lanes have become deserted after the deaths of so many residents in the last one week. Five days ago, 11 pyres were burnt at the village crematorium. We have never witnessed anything like this before,” said Suresh Kumar, the representative for the village sarpanch, Parmila.
He said the family members of those who died within a week said the deceased had a fever for two days and died after that. Almost all deaths that took place in the last seven days had similar symptoms. At least seven of the deceased were of younger than 40 years, he added.
The village informed the district administration and health department, who have started taking samples of the family members of the deceased. “To curb more deaths, havans are also being performed to ward off evil causing deaths of so many villagers,” said Suresh Kumar, who is brother-in-law of the sarpanch.
Jagdish Kumar, a milkman from Titoli village, however, claimed that the real count of the deaths in the last seven days is double than that claimed by the village sarpanch’s representative.
“Despite serious losses of so many people, the presence of the district health department was negligible on the ground,” Kumar added.
Titoli villagers lit 11 pyres at the crematorium on Thursday alone
‘Appealing to people not to gather over hookah, play cards’
A team of doctors came for some hours but vanished and no one was on the ground to sanitize the village lanes, houses or take samples of villages to detect the extent of virus damage, he added.
Sombir Dahiya, assistant sub-inspector at Titoli police station said that they were receiving information of the deaths under mysterious circumstances continuously in the last four to five days. “Villagers told the police that the deceased had a fever for two days and died after that. Police are patrolling the main chowks of the village and appealing to the people not to assemble over hookah or for playing cards to avoid contracting the virus,” Dahiya added.
Talking to TOI, Dr Anil Birla, the chief medical officer said the health department knew about the deaths in Titoli village and a survey of the complete village had been completed. “A senior medical officer has been preparing a report as to how many deaths have occurred and what was their cause,” Dr Birla said, adding that the report would be submitted by Tuesday.