Maharashtra: 12 more from same Sangli family test positive, number of cases now 153

In Sangli’s Islampur, after four members of a family tested positive on March 23 after returning from Haj in Saudi Arabia, five other relatives were diagnosed on Wednesday, three on Thursday, and 12 on Friday. With this, while 23 members of the family have tested positive, another person, also a relative, who had been infected had visited the family from Peth Wadgaon in Kolhapur.

“These 12 people are from the same family where 11 from Islampur and one from Wadgaon had earlier tested positive,” Sangli district Civil Surgeon Dr Sanjay Salunkhe said.

The three who had tested positive on Wednesday included a girl who had come to meet them from Peth Wadgaon and a woman – a close family relation – who helped with domestic chores.

“Initially, we contacted 41 people who had come in contact with the family. But the close family relation, who stayed separately, also worked in other people’s homes. So, now we have traced at least 300 contacts,” Salunkhe said.

Meanwhile, five persons tested positive in Vidarbha on Friday. Civil Surgeon D V Paturkar said, “While three of them are family members of the Nagpur man who had tested positive on Thursday, one person had come in close contact with him. The fifth one is a man from Gondia.”

The Nagpur man, who had tested positive on Thursday, had gone to Delhi on March 16 and had returned to the city on March 18. He had developed symptoms about three days later.

Divisional Commissioner Sanjiv Kumar said, “We had identified 21 people, who came in contact with him after his return from Delhi.” The first man to test positive was discharged on Thursday while three of his acquaintances, including his wife, may be discharged on Saturday.

In Gondia, a 24-year-old man had been infected. Gondia Collector Kadambari Balkawde said, “He had returned to Gondia from Bangkok on March 16. He had gone there with four others from Chhattisgarh. One of them tested positive in Rajnandgaon. We swung into action yesterday and sent his samples to Nagpur. It has tested positive.”

She added, “We have quarantined his four family members. Currently, all are asymptomatic. We are tracking his co-travellers in the train in which he traveled from Raipur to Gondia.”

On Friday, 250 people were hospitalised across the state on suspicion of being infected. So far, 3,059 people have tested negative for COVID-19 in the state.

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