TUMAKURU: When a madrasa manager from Sira travelled to New Delhi by train earlier this month with 13 others, he could not have imagined that it would cost him his life and leave dozens of people including his family members, friends and acquaintances anxiously waiting to find out if they have contracted COVID-19.
The 65-year-old started his career as a realtor, became a provisional store owner and then established a madrasa a couple of years ago on Madhugiri road, becoming its manager.
After his return home, the man who has sixteen children from three wives, stayed with his family and interacted with friends for a week between March 14 and March 21 when he visited a doctor at a private clinic at Sira.
As many as 26 children aged between 10-17 studying in the madrasa have also been kept under quarantine as there is no guarantee that he did not meet them after returning from New Delhi.
Three doctors, including the one who treated him at the isolation ward at the district general hospital here, and staff nurses have also been kept under observation and their samples have been sent for tests at the National Institute of Virology in Bengaluru.
Of the 13 who travelled with him, twelve including ten from Tumakuru city and another from Tiptur were traced and sent to the isolation ward here, while another from Nagamangala taluk of Mandya district is yet to be traced. The results of the samples of the twelve will be out on Saturday.
The only consolation is that the samples of eight of his family members have tested negative. But residents of Sira are in a state of panic, with some of them having already left the town to safer places far away, said sources.
With no travel history abroad, the man was not put under home quarantine by the administration here which was clueless until he was admitted to the hospital with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection.
Now, parts of Sira town including the victim's house have been cordoned off and health department officials led by the District Health Officer (DHO) have been collecting information about the secondary contacts of the deceased.