BELAGAVI: The entire four-member family of a vegetable dealer from Hirebagewadi near Belagavi has tested positive for COVID-19.
The 20-year-old son of the vegetable trader was the first to contract the virus last week. He had a travel history to Delhi for the Tablighi Jamaat congregation and had returned to Hirebagewadi in mid-March.
A few days later, he was put under quarantine in Belagavi along with a large group of people with whom he had been to the congregation.
His parents and brother were also put under quarantine. According to sources, the three are likely to have been infected by the virus through him.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES
According to official information, his father, 50, mother, 40, and elder brother, 22, were taken to the COVID ward in Belagavi district hospital soon after they tested positive on Thursday. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Belagavi rose to 10 even as several suspected persons are still under quarantine.
The family was involved in the vegetable business and the 50-year-old man was busy selling onions in Hirebagewadi market for several days prior to entering the quarantine facility.
The official machinery, particularly from the Health Department, has a tough task on hand to trace the people who came in close contact with him before he was quarantined.
Several people who attended the Delhi congregation including 10 Indonesians have been put under quarantine in different parts of Belagavi city. Hirebagewadi, Belagundi and Camp area from where the 10 cases were registered have been totally barricaded from all sides to keep the public inside their homes.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner S B Bommanahalli has shifted the vegetable market from APMC yard to the Belagavi outskirts by marking a separate space in Hindalco ground, RTO ground in Auto Nagar and Malini City ground in Yediyurappa Nagar.
Facilities to supply vegetables at doorsteps also have arranged by the local administration in all parts of Belagavi. The DC has called upon people to avoid going to makeshift vegetable markets set up on the outskirts while urging them to buy vegetables at their doorsteps.