A 65-year-old man who died in Tumakuru on Friday has tested positive for COVID-19. He did not have a history of foreign travel.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Deputy Commissioner K. Rakesh Kumar said that the person died around 10.45 a.m. in the district government hospital.
This is the first positive case of COVID-19 in the district and the first death in the district.
He was a native of Sira in Tumakuru district .
Travel history
He had travelled to Delhi on March 5 along 13 persons by train (Sampark Kranti) from Tumakuru in S-6 compartment. The group reached Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi on March 7 and took a taxi to Jamia Masjid. All stayed at Jamia Masjid from March 7 to March 11 as they could not get a room in the nearby lodge. They had gone to Delhi to attend a three-day convention organised in Jamia Masjid which started on March 7. They left Delhi on March 11 by Kongu Express in S-9 compartment.
He reached Yeshwanthpur railway station in Bengaluru on March 14 and travelled in a KSRTC bus which was going to Chitradurga and reached Sira on the same day. He stayed in his house for the next few days. He developed cough and fever on March 18 and visited a doctor in the OPD of a private hospital in Sira on March 19. He visited a doctor in a private clinic and then went to a diagnostic lab where his X-ray was taken and blood sample was taken in Sira on March 21.
The doctor in the private clinic referred him to the district government hospital in Tumakuru on March 21. On March 23 he visited the OPD of the hospital and returned to Sira.
He was admitted to the same hospital on March 24 around 3 a.m. and was discharged against medical advice at around 10 a.m. He visited a private hospital where a staff nurse put the oxygen mask and a lab technician took the blood sample and X-ray scan. He was referred back to Tumakuru district government hospital.
On March 24, he was kept in the isolation ward of the district hospital and blood sample was taken. He was responding to the treatment and was not bedridden and was going to the toilet on his own. He died on Friday around 10.45 a.m.
Doctors’ home quarantine
All 20 members of his family including his wives and 16 children have been kept under quarantine in MCH hospital in Sira and two doctors of the private hospital, staff of the diagnostic lab who took the X-ray and blood sample, doctor of government hospital who treated him and 13 persons of Tumakuru who travelled with him to Delhi have been sent to home quarantine and their blood samples and throat swabs will be collected and will be sent to the laboratory.
All the 13 members who travelled with him are from Tumakuru and have been kept under home quarantine.
Eight persons who were in direct contact with the person have tested negative for COVID -19.
Red alert
The Deputy Commissioner has declared red alert in Sira and told all the people in the taluk not to come out from their houses.
A 3-km area from the victim’s house has been declared as red zone and 5 km area from his house has been declared as buffer zone.
Funeral
The authorities convinced the family members of the deceased person to conduct his last rites in Tumakuru. Only two members of his family were allowed to perform the rituals as per their religion and he was buried in a grave dug 9 feet deep in Jalka Makan Dargah in Tumakuru on Friday.
All necessary precautionary measures were taken while shifting the body from the hospital to the burial ground.
