HYDERABAD: As Telangana recorded eight new Covid-19 positive cases in a single day, seven of which are primary contacts of the Indonesian preacher who lived in a Karimnagar mosque, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has convened a high-level meeting on Thursday to impose more restrictions on movement of people to effectively prevent the spread of the dreaded virus. Of the total 13 positive cases in the State, 12 are active positive cases who are undergoing treatment at Gandhi Hospital. Patient 5 and patients 7 to 13 are all Indonesians.
The sixth patient who tested positive on Wednesday was a 22-year-old man, who is pursuing Bachelor of Business Administration in Scotland. He returned to Telangana on March 16, arriving at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at around 5.30 am. The patient stayed with his parents for a day, until he developed a fever and cough, after which he was shifted to Gandhi Hospital where he tested positive. The State government has identified four primary contacts of this person.
What apparently made the Chief Minister convene the high-level meeting on Thursday was a report that the fifth person, a religious preacher from Indonesia, who tested positive for Coronavirus on Tuesday, may have left a trail of hundreds of primary contacts. The officials are already on the job of identifying them and at the Thursday’s meeting, the Chief Minister is expected to issue orders for quarantining all those who returned from abroad. The Indonesian religious preacher arrived in Ramagundam on March 14 and later travelled to Karimnagar. That he had exposed himself to a sizeable number of people had placed the officials on a high state of alert.
Thai angle
This apart, another development that jarred the administration was that about 24 people who visited Thailand from Karimnagar and Siddidpet districts have returned home and no tests were done on them.
The Karimnagar administration is looking for them to shift them to a quarantine facility while the Siddipet officials had traced two of them and kept them under observation at an isolation facility.
While this is so, all district Collectors, SPs, Ministers and officials have been asked attend the Chief Minister’s high-level meeting on Thursday for drawing up an action plan. The Chief Minister called upon the people to be alert as some people from Indonesia who arrived in Karimnagar, had symptoms of Covid. The Chief Minister also called upon people to inform the government about the arrival of people from other countries. The State government had already announced a one-week and a 15-day action plan to combat the virus. The one-week action plan will be completed on March 21.
“People should understand that the measures are being taken by the State government to ensure that Coronavirus will not spread in the State. People should not gather in huge numbers at one place,” the Chief Minister advised the State’s citizens.
Infected Indonesian preacher lived in Karimnagar mosque
The officials feel that it would be an uphill task for them to trace all the primary contacts of Indonesian preacher, who tested positive for Coronavirus. The preacher, along with his 10-member team, lived in a Karimnagar mosque for a few days after arriving from Ramagundam. What is worrying the officials is that mosques are also high-risk public areas where devotees use common water bodies to wash hands, feet and face before offering prayers.
A source from the South Central Railway told Express, “Details of 82 people who travelled in the coach with the Indonesian group from Delhi’s Nizamuddin to Tirupati train have been given to the State Health Department, who have started tracking and contacting them. The coach was also immediately disinfected, even before we were told about the case, as all coaches are being checked and disinfected.”
A letter by the State Health Department to the Deputy Chief Commercial Manager of the Secunderabad railway station read, “The patient (referring to the Indonesian) had travelled from Delhi in AP Sampark Kranti train (12708) on March 13. He subsequently tested positive for Coronavirus. He was allocated a seat in coach S9, which reached Ramagundem on March 14. In view of the above, it is to further be informed that the contacts/co-passengers who travelled with the Covid-19 positive patient run the risk of contracting the infection.”