MYSURU: There seems to be no respite from Covid-19 for old Mysuru region, as the ‘sugar bowl’, Mandya district, reported eight new cases on Friday. This comes at a time when Mysuru district is nearly flattening the curve. Mystery shrouds three of these patients, who are members of a family that accompanied the body of an autorickshaw driver from Mumbai to Mandya.
The family travelled 1,023 km and crossed 20 checkposts to reach Mandya district to conduct the final rites. Already, Mysuru district is gripped by the unsolved source of infection at Jubliant Pharma Company in Nanjangud, which has become a hotspot. The 53-year-old auto driver died after a heart attack at VN Desai Municipal Hospital in Mumbai on April 23.
The same day, his wife, son, daughter and her child left Mumbai in a government ambulance. On the way, the ambulance also stopped at several places to let relatives pay their last respects. Coming to know that the body is being transported from Mumbai, a Covid hotspot, Pandavapura MLA CS Puttaraju told the family not to conduct the final rites at the village. The mortal remains were then cremated on the Pandavapura-KR Pet border. On Friday, the 25-year-old son of the auto driver, his 24-year-old daughter and her two-year-old child were tested positive.
The wife, however, has tested negative. A 30-yearold woman from KR Pet, who came in contact with the child, too tested positive, triggering panic among people of Pandavapura and KR Pet taluks, through which the ambulance passed. Residents of Melukote too are worried as a pourakarmika from the town assisted the family during the cremation. She did not quarantine herself and has met several people since then. Mandya Deputy Commissioner Venkatesh said that the son of the deceased, who works in the loan section of a private bank in Mumbai, might have come in contact with an infected person.
He has sought medical reports from Mumbai to find out whether the auto driver or any of his family members were tested Covid-positive. Four other cases from the district are contacts of a man (P179) from Malavalli, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in New Delhi. With eight new cases, the total tally from Mandya district stood at 26, while active cases are 22.
SARI PATIENT DIES IN DAVANAGERE
Davanagere: Davanagere reported its first Covid-19 death on Friday. A 69-year-old man, suffering from a Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, was declared dead around 6.45 pm on Friday. The patient was a diabetic and died due to multiple organ failure. He was admitted to the CoViD-19 ward in Chigateri General Hospital after he complained of SARI on April 28.
Also an ischemic heart disease patient, he was on ventilator support since admission. Five of his primary contacts were also reported positive on Friday. DHO Dr Raghavendra Swamy said that the patient was not stable since Thursday night as his diabetic condition did not come under control and BP too was unstable. Doctors took telemedicine help from the Rajiv Gandhi Chest Diseases Hospital Bengaluru, but that did not help. The body will be buried in a six-footdeep pit by designated people after following due protocols, he explained.