JOIN US17 COVID-19 cases reported in Karnataka, tally goes up to 232
Karnataka on Sunday reported 17 new COVID-19 cases, the biggest spike in cases so far, taking the state’s tally to 232.
Four of the fresh cases were children, with one being a two-year-old baby boy in Kalaburagi (Patient 227).
The boy has been afflicted with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), an end-stage symptom of the COVID-19 disease.
In a worrying development, the virus made inroads into Vijayapura, untouched by the outbreak till now, as six cases were reported from the north Karnataka district.
In five of the cases from Vijayapura, no contact history is known at all. Sources said these cases are all members of the same family, which includes two boys, aged 13 and 10, one girl, aged 12, a 49-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman.
According to a source, Patient 221, a 60-year-old woman in Vijayapura, is unconnected to the five other cases, although all six hail from the same neighbourhood — Chapparband Galli, which is close to the world-famous Gol Gumbaz monument.
Triggering further panic in Vijayapura, the husband of Patient 221 died mysteriously on Sunday evening. The district administration has collected his blood samples and throat swabs for tests, while deciding to cremate the body as per government protocol.
District officials declined to comment on the issue.
However, Superintendent of Police Prakash Nikam rubbished claims that the family members got infected after they sneaked over the border to Maharashtra to attend a funeral.
“That is completely false. Three of the affected cases are children. They were at home. What we know is that they have family across the Maharastra border and we believe that some members came before the lockdown. They could have been one of the carriers of the virus,” Nikam said.
A senior district official also pointed out the difficulty in closing the border.
“It is easy to say, sitting afar, that the borders be sealed. But this part of the state border is highly porous, and there are small village tracks that are impossible to monitor. Moreover, goods trucks are passing through the interstate border. Infected migrants riding these trucks could have also spread the infection,” he said.
Other cases
Among Sunday's cases, just one had a direct history of international travel. This is Patient 218, a 58-year-old man who was in Indonesia but returned to Bengaluru on March 21.
Significantly, four of the new cases have been afflicted with SARI. This includes Patient 221, who is the first case reported in that district.
Two others are contacts of Patient 172, a 65-year-old man who died of SARI-related complications brought on by COVID-19 on April 7 in Kalaburagi.
Four positive cases are contacts of Tablighi Jamaat returnees, while one is affiliated with the Nanjangud pharma cluster outbreak.
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