Bengaluru’s COVID-19 cases jump to 4

Techie’s wife, kid, 2nd US-returned man test positive ; nationwide tally 58

The 47-year-old wife and 13-year-old daughter of the Bengaluru techie, who had tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, were also found to have contracted the virus, the state health department revealed on Tuesday. Though they have no travel history, they are suspected to have contracted it from the 46-year-old techie himself.

With the latest cases in the city, the nationwide tally of COVID-19 positive persons has reached 58.

Addressing the media, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said, “Four people have so far tested positive for Covid-19 but only two of them had travelled abroad. The other two have contracted the virus here in Bengaluru.”

The fourth patient who turned positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday is a 50-year-old techie who travelled from the US and reached Bengaluru via London on March 8.

Though Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey did not reveal from where in the US he arrived, he told DH, “He reached Bengaluru on March 8 and on the same day developed symptoms. He was feverish, had cold and cough, and reported to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) on the same day.”

“Unlike the first patient, we have tested him only once. We sent the sample to National Institute of Virology, Bengaluru, and found that he has COVID-19,” he
added.

Though the universal screening of passengers began on March 5, thermal screening at the airport did not detect it on March 8 because he was asymptomatic at that time, he said.

The department has so far identified 12 people as his primary and secondary contacts.

Asked about the passengers who were seated with him on both the flights from the US and from London, Pandey said, “We have to contact 25-30 people per flight. We are still doing it.”

BSF, Army facilities

In case the number of Covid-19 patients increases in Bengaluru, the government has made arrangements for accommodating around 300 patients at health facilities of the Border Security Force (BSF) and around 150 people at the Army health facility.

According to World Health Organisation guidelines, COVID-19 positive patients should be admitted in isolation rooms or if not available, they are to be housed on beds separated by at least a metre’s distance. Unlike private hospitals in the state, RGICD, where Covid-19 patients are being housed, does not have negative pressure
rooms.