Coronavirus | Bengaluru-based software engineer tests positive

26-year-old techie had been to Greece

A corona patient ward is set up to provide treatment to any suspected case of the coronavirus at a hospital in Karnataka.

A software engineer, who works in Bengaluru, has tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday taking the total number of confirmed cases in Karnataka to five.

The newly married 26-year-old software engineer, who returned on March 6 from his honeymoon to Greece, first landed in Mumbai with his wife to meet his parents who live there. From there, his wife travelled to her parents’ home in Agra from Mumbai.

The software engineer returned to Bengaluru via a domestic flight on March 8. The patient, who stays with his brother in Bengaluru, developed symptoms soon after and self-reported at the State-run Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) on March 10.

From there, he was referred to Jayanagar General Hospital, another government hospital that has been designated as an isolation facility and has been admitted there.

“After his return, he went to his office on March 9. Although his office has 154 employees, his contact was with only four colleagues as he was in office for an hour or so. He left his office as he was feeling unwell. We have traced 17 contacts of the software engineer, including 10 members of his family (his parents, brother, wife), and seven secondary contacts. All of them have been screened and are asymptomatic. They are under home isolation,” said Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar.

 

“With regard to the co-passengers in the flight, we have informed the concerned airline authorities for a further follow-up. We have also informed Agra health authorities for surveillance of his wife and her contacts there,” the Minister told the media at a press conference on Thursday.

Patients stable

All the five patients in Bengaluru, who have tested positive, are stable and responding to treatment. While three of them do not have any symptoms, the other two have mild symptoms and are being treated, the Minister said.

 

A total of 18 patients are under quarantine in various hospitals in the State, including 10 in RGICD and two in Jayanagar General Hospital and Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital. Isolation facilities in Hassan, Dakshina Kannada and Ballari have two, three and one patient respectively. Till date 1,01,942 passengers have been screened in the State and 579 samples have been tested.