BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Monday reported eight new positive cases of COVID- 19, taking the total to 91. Though only five new cases had been reported till evening, three more cases, all from a single family in Hosapete of Ballari district, were reported in the night. Two other members of the family have been kept under observation at District Hospital in Ballari.
The three members who have been tested positive have no history of foreign travel, but had gone to Bengaluru last week to visit their relatives. After returning from Bengaluru, three of them fell ill and were admitted to District Hospital two days ago. Their reports came positive on Monday. These are Patients 89, 90 and 91. Patient 84 is a 13-year-old male from Tumakuru and son of the 60-year-old man who died in Tumakuru last Friday.
The rest of the primary contacts including those who travelled with the deceased victim were tested negative. Patients 85 to 88 are all colleagues of the Nanjangud patient who works at a pharmaceutical company and tested positive without any contact or travel history abroad. Patient 85 is a 32-year-old man, Patient 86 is a 34-year-old man, Patient 87 is a 21-yearold male and Patient 88 is a 24-year-old male, all of whom worked at the same pharma company in Nanjangud.
Though initially Kalaburagi was thought to be the epicentre with one death and three positive cases, it now appears that Nanjangud, Tumakuru and Hosapete too have emerged as new clusters of coronavirus. Jawaid Akhtar, additional chief secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, said, “The pharmaceutical company imported material from China. We are testing whether packaging material received from China spread the virus. We cannot yet conclude on the exact reason behind his infection as of now.”