BAGALKOT: Super spreaders are causing concern in the state. These are individual patients who unknowingly pass on an infection to a large number of people. A 23-year-old pregnant woman from Badami who has tested positive for Covid-19 has put the lives of at least hundred people at risk in three districts of North Karnataka.
The P-607, who tested positive on Sunday, is five months pregnant and suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI). She had travelled to Hubballi to get treatment at private hospitals and from there went to her maternal home in Krishnapur village, Gadag district, and to her in-laws’ house at Danakasirur, Bagalkot district, in the last two weeks.
She had visited three hospitals, including the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) of Hubballi, to obtain treatment for her breathing issues. After she tested positive for Covid-19, at least four doctors of private hospitals in Hubballi have been ordered to be in quarantine. The health authorities have collected the throat swab samples of the doctors and sent them to the lab.
Dharwad Deputy Commissioner Deepa Cholan told TNIE, “As soon as her results were out, we succeeded in identifying her primary and secondary contacts in Dharwad. When she arrived in Hubballi for medical care, she approached private hospitals. And as the physicians there identified symptoms of Covid-19, they referred her to a fever clinic in Hubballi. She then approached a gynaecologist at a private hospital and they referred her to KIMS.” Though the patient is from Bagalkot, she has been isolated in Hubballi,” the DC said.