Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A software engineer who returned from a visit to the United States on March 1 has tested positive for the Covid-19, becoming the first person to be diagnosed with the infection in Karnataka, state health department officials announced on Monday.
The engineer, who is around 40 years old, returned from Austin, Texas via New York and Dubai along with a colleague on March 1 and fell ill on March 4. He spent three days at a private hospital before he was sent to a government isolation facility on Sunday. “Two separate tests conducted at the National Institute of Virology in Bengaluru on samples of the patient have tested positive for the coronavirus,” Karnataka Health Secretary Jawed Akhtar said on Monday.
The man’s colleague has also shown symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection, along with the engineer’s wife and daughter. They have all been quarantined at the government-run Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, pending arrival of test reports, health department officials said.
“We are tracking 2,666 people the patient had primary or secondary contact with since returning by flight on March 1, including those on the flight, his driver and family, those in the apartment complex where he lived, the school of his daughter, the IT company where he worked,” health officials said.
As of Monday, 12 persons were admitted in quarantine facilities in Karnataka with symptoms of the virus, including one person who tested positive.
The state health department has called for closure of pre primary and primary departments at all schools in Bengaluru until further notification.
The Union Health Ministry is yet to confirm the case as Karnataka’s first.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
