In coronavirus fight, Karnataka traces Hyderabad techie’s movements

Late on Tuesday night, Karnataka health department released complete details of Bengaluru COVID-19 patient's movements before he was diagnosed with the virus.

On passengers who travelled on 20th Feb from Dubai to Bengaluru, the department said, "Passengers who were sitting close to the patient were followed and tracked by phone, all are asymptomatic and will be followed up until 6th of March."

A letter has been issued to the airline to initiate surveillance activity. The taxi driver, who dropped the patient from the Airport to his residence has been traced, found to be asymptomatic but he is under surveillance.

On bus travel details from Bengaluru to Secundrabad, the department said, "23 passengers have travelled in the bus. Out of which 20 passengers have been traced and have been home-quarantined. The bus driver is under isolation in Hyderabad. The patient had travelled from Secundrabad drop point to his residence on his friend’s two-wheeler. The chemical disinfection of the bus has been done in Hyderabad on March 1st."

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At his workplace, an IT company, in Bengaluru, 25 colleagues have been contacted and one is found to be symptomatic and admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases and the sample has been sent for testing.

Fumigation of the workplace was also done on Tuesday. "At his residence in Bengaluru, one flatmate has been contacted and isolated, he is found to be asymptomatic. Fumigation has been done at his residence on Tuesday," the department said.

Also read — Coronavirus: 24 people from Bengaluru techie's office asked to work from home

Earlier in the day, Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu held discussions with the rank and file of the health department on measures to prevent the virus from spreading. He assured that the state has sufficient infrastructure to deal with the virus.

Explaining the level of preparedness, Sriramulu said a total of 50 designated hospitals have been identified for isolation and treatment of suspected Covid-19 cases, out of which 31 are public health facilities, including district hospitals and 19 are private health facilities. A total of 246 beds with 50 ventilators have been identified at designated hospitals.

The designated hospitals have 1,462 N95 masks and 646 personal protective equipment in the stock. The state also has two identified laboratories at Bengaluru for testing of Covid-19 suspected cases: National Institute of Virology, Bengaluru unit, and Virus Research Diagnostic Laboratory, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute.

On Tuesday, according to the health bulletin released by the department daily, 92 new passengers were enrolled for observation across the state, 90 were isolated at their respective homes, two at health facilities and 11 samples were collected for testing.