Officials scramble to trace coronavirus' footprints in Whitefield

The coronavirus fears that were hitherto limited to Tipu Nagar and the adjoining areas in western Bengaluru have now reached Whitefield, over 20 km away.

The BBMP’s health officials are tracing the primary and secondary contacts of a 65-year-old man from Tipu Nagar, who died of Covid-19 at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Child Diseases (RGICD) last week.

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According to a BBMP official, the victim’s daughter and her son were identified as primary contacts. “His daughter lives in Whitefield and she used to commute between Tipu Nagar and Whitefield. Now that she and her son have developed the Covid-19 symptoms, we are tracing their primary and secondary contacts, including her husband, around their house in Whitefield,” a surveillance officer in the BBMP told DH.

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The development of Covid-19 symptoms among some of the primary contacts of the 65-year-old man has created panic among other people who had come in contact with him and who were earlier refusing to be quarantined. Many of these primary contacts had defied the orders and refused to cooperate with BBMP officials.

But in a sudden turn of events, these primary contacts are now voluntarily coming forward to be quarantined by the BBMP. “There are several people who were not identified previously, but are coming forward to explain their exposure with the Covid-19 victim,” the official explained.