Faced with some baffling instances of individuals contracting COVID-19 on the outskirts of Hyderabad, police and health officials are struggling to ascertain how the transmission took place.
Two such cases, that of a six-year-old boy of Sai Krupa Colony in Beeramguda and a sexagenarian from Mayurinagar of Ramachandrapuram, are compelling the authorities to do everything possible to find out how they contracted the novel coronavirus. Though a precise answer is eluding them, officials are not leaving anything to chance and getting all close and casual contacts of the boy and the senior citizen quarantined.
Boy’s father travelled
The boy’s father is a techie, who flew to Hyderabad from Switzerland on March 18, after an official assignment. “Apparently concerned over the possibility of contracting the virus, he drove to a hotel and stayed there for 14 days,” a police officer explained. After completing the self-quarantining at the hotel, he went to a private hospital for medical check-ups and arrived at home only after confirming that there was nothing to worry.
Three to four days after his return, the techie’s six-year-old son started complaining of breathing problems and ran a temperature. He had the boy checked at a nearby hospital and later went to a corporate hospital. To his shock, the boy tested positive for COVID-19.
“How did the boy contract the virus is not yet clear. Even in the latest test, the boy’s father tested negative for the virus. So a lot of questions remain,” police and medical officials said.
Equally mysterious is the case of the senior citizen from Hafeezpet. A businessman, he reportedly has a history of asthma and felt breathless a few days ago. After initial check-up at a local hospital, he went to a corporate hospital in Gachibowli only to be declared coronavirus-positive.
Immediately, authorities got his young son, and wife tested. “Initial reports said they did not contract the virus. But during subsequent tests, his son tested positive,” the police said. The authorities checked if the senior citizen and the boy had travelled anywhere recently.
Nowhere but home
With holidays declared for the schools, the boy was at home. Except for a single night’s stay recently at Ravirala, the elderly man did not go anywhere. With no clarity over how they contracted the virus, the authorities are tracing every possible contact of the old man, his son and the six-year-old boy.
“From manager and boys of the hotel where the techie stayed to the driver of the cab in which he travelled from airport to hotel and home, everyone has been traced and home quarantined,” an official of Cyberabad police said.
Even the doctor of a hospital where the boy went for a check-up is being quarantined.
Six friends of the senior citizen whom he regularly used to meet are also home quarantined. In his case, officials believe his young son contracted the virus first and did not show any symptoms because of stronger immunity power. Mobile phone call data record of his son for past two months was analysed to ascertain whom he had met recently.
The data did not throw up any leads. Efforts are still on to learn how they got the virus. “Unless that is clearly established, stopping further spread of the virus is difficult,” said a police officer.
