VIJAYAPURA: A day after six persons of two families tested positive for COVID-19, the district administration said on Monday that the sources of the infection were traced to Maharashtra.A 60-year-old woman who is found have contracted the coronavirus had travelled to Ichalkaranji town of Kolhapur district along with her husband to attend the last rites of their relative.Five members of another family who all tested positive for the contagious disease had travelled to Pune. The COVID-19 patients of the family include three minors.
Deputy Commissioner YS Patil said, “It is learnt that the sexagenarian woman who tested positive and her husband had taken part in the final rites of one of their relatives at Ichalkaranji. Five members of another family who tested positive had been to Pune. We strongly believe that all of them contracted the virus during their stay in Maharashtra.”“It has also come to our notice that they approached private hospitals with symptoms of COVID-19 before knocking the doors of government hospitals. A team led by Superintendent of Police Anupam Agarwal is investigating the matter and action will be initiated if the private hospitals are found to have violated guidelines,” Patil said.
Sources said the family members of the sexagenarian didn’t cooperate when health workers approached them for an investigation. The call histories of the senior citizens were deleted from their cell phones, the sources said.
The district administration has sealed the locality around the houses of the COVID-19 patients. Officials took up a survey of the area and 75 primary contacts of the patients were identified till Monday evening and their throat swabs were sent to Kalaburagi for lab for tests. Meanwhile, District In-charge Minister Shashikala Jolle said reports are sent to state and Union governments on the availability of infrastructure at Vijayapura and Belagavi to set up VRDL labs and approvals are awaited.