Five persons, including a government medical officer, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Chikkamagaluru district, which had remained in the green zone with no cases so far. Four of them, including a pregnant woman, had returned from Mumbai.
The 43-year-old male doctor is attached to Nandipura Primary Health Centre. He has no history of travelling out of the State. However, it is said he had been to Kodagu and Bengaluru recently.
Deputy Commissioner Bagadi Gautam has declared the area within 100 metres of the patients’ residences as containment zone and five kilometres as buffer zone. The DC told reporters that the primary and secondary contacts of the patients were being traced. “The contact tracing teams are doing their job. We will identify primary and secondary contacts and quarantine them. There is nothing to worry about. However, people of the district have to be careful and take precautions to avoid the infection”, he said.
The medical officer (P-1295) is a resident of Mudigere town. He had come in contact with many, including his subordinate staff members, patients and neighbours, besides his family members. He underwent the COVID test after he developed symptoms.
The district administration is making efforts to trace all those patients who met him in the hospital. Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumara has issued a press release appealing to the public who visited Nandipra Primary Health Centre as outpatients between May 2 and May 16 to contact the Health Department. “We need to trace primary and secondary contacts of the patient for medical examination. A list of people, who visited the hospital in recent days, has been prepared and officers contacted them all. If anybody’s name is missing in the list, he/she should contact Dr. Madhusudan on 9740937036”, the press note said.
