BHOPAL: 11 persons including an IAS officer have tested positive for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh on Friday.
With this, the number of COVID-19 positive patients in the central Indian state has risen to 131.
Out of the 11, all ten persons attended the post-death ceremony of a woman in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh and tested positive for virus infection.
Also, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer posted as Director (Administration) in the state health department in Bhopal has tested positive.
He is already admitted to a private hospital and is recovering fast, state health department confirmed.
The samples of over 100 contacts of the infected IAS officer have been sent for testing.
Out of the ten persons who have tested positive for the virus, eight are women and two men – all close relatives of a couple, who had tested positive on Thursday and are being treated at the Morena district hospital.
According to reports from Morena district, a man who works at a restaurant in Dubai returned to Morena on March 17 following his mother’s death.
Three days later, the Trayodashah (ceremony to mark the 13th day of mourning) was organized, which was attended by hundreds of his relatives.
On March 25, the man who returned from Dubai and his wife developed symptoms of the coronavirus and both of them were isolated at the Morena district hospital on March 31.
The couple’s samples tested positive for the Coronavirus on April 2.
"We sent 23 samples of the contacts of the two positive patients and received the reports on Friday. Out of them 10, including eight women have tested positive for the Coronavirus," Morena district chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr RC Bandil said on Friday.
All 12 positive patients have now been quarantined at the hospital, while those who tested negative have been put under 14 days isolation at their houses in different parts of Morena district.
Also, the entire colony in which the couple was living since coming from Dubai has been sealed by the district administration.
With ten more positive cases being reported from Morena district, the number of COVID-19 positive patients in the state has risen to 131, out of which 122 are positive, eight have died and one recovered.