This story is from April 1, 2020

How Tumakuru victim spread viral fear among family and mohalla

The 65-year old man, who died of Covid-19 on March 27 in Tumakuru, had direct contact with 82 people which includes 45 family members comprising 18 children, two wives and others.
How Tumakuru victim spread viral fear among family and mohalla
A policeman on vigil near Vikasa Soudha in Bengaluru
BENGALURU: The 65-year old man, who died of Covid-19 on March 27 in Tumakuru, had direct contact with 82 people which includes 45 family members comprising 18 children, two wives and others.
P60 (patient 60) was a preacher from Sira taluk. Official sources said he had no travel history to any Covid-affected countries but had travelled to Delhi on March 5 by the Sampark Kranti Express.
In Delhi, he attended religious activities at Nizamuddin Masjid between March 7 and 11 and stayed at a lodge.
He returned to Bengaluru by Kongu Express (S9 coach) on March 14 and took a bus to Sira. He came in contact with 27 relatives and 26 children studying in his madrasa, apart from local followers of his masjid and people in two mohallas in Maraluru Dinne and Sira. Authorities now fear the state will pay a steep price for his negligence. He didn’t disclose his participation at the major event where over 1700 persons were present.
His 13-year-old son tested positive on Monday and has been admitted to a Bengaluru hospital.
“He moved around till the day before his death and met scores of people in Maralaur Dinne and Sira,” said district in-charge minister J C Madhuswamy.
“Only after his death did we realise that he had two more children he had met. He didn’t tell us about them and we heard about it when P60’s son-in-law was speaking over the phone, alleging the government was trying to blame his father-in-law for quarantining the entire mohalla,” Madhuswamy said.

Worse, P60 had visited Sira and prayed at the masjid with six others.“We had to pull out CTV footage of the masjid which showed that P60 had a meal with another man from the same plate. This was not disclosed to district authorities,” said Madhuswamy.
The Tumakuru district administration announced a red alert in Sira. The district authorities have traced two associates of P60 -- from Tiptur and Hebbur-- and quarantined them. Seven others are from Maralur Dinne and have been quarantined.
“While these are only two cases, his other children tested negative in the first round, there is a possibility of the virus affecting people in the mohallas,” said the minister. The government has forcibly home quarantined 2,000 people in Sira Mohalla and 12,000 people in Maraluru Dinne.
According to the district health officer, 82 primary contacts and 162 secondary contacts are in isolation in Tumakuru. “We’re tracing tertiary contacts to minimise the damage” he said.
350 outreach workers quarantined
Karnataka police on Tuesday said around 300 local Tablighi Jamaat outreach workers and 50 foreign nationals (19 from Kyrghistan, 20 from Indonesia, 4 from South Africa, 3 from Gambia and one each from USA, UK, France and Kenya) have been quarantined in the state. Police said all have been subjected to stringent medical tests.
Meanwhile, the 50 foreign nationals who have come to Karnataka have been ascertained as being those who had come to the Markaz in Nizamuddin and later arrived in various parts of Karnataka.
According to Tablighi community leaders, the foreign nationals made their way to Karnataka after the lockdown in Delhi and their flights were cancelled.
(Inputs from Kiran Parashar)
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About the Author
Sandeep Moudgal

Journalist by profession, 15 years in the field with Politics and Policy as forte. He is an Assistant Editor with Bengaluru bureau and Karnataka as his jurisdiction. Has a Masters degree in Ancient History and Archaeology from Mysore University along with a PGDJ from the Asian College of Journalism.

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