Death of 69-year-old man triggers panic in Devanagere

DAVANAGERE: The death of a 69-year-old Covid-19 patient in Davanagere on Friday – the district’s first fatality to the pandemic – has triggered panic among the residents. The man, suffering from a severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), was admitted to the designated Covid-19 hospital here on April 28 and tested positive for coronavirus the next day.
Davanagere deputy commissioner Mahantesh Bilagi on Saturday said that the man had hypertension and was undergoing treatment for cardiovascular diseases at the Katurba Medical College Hospital at Manipal for the past five years.He said the deceased was a resident of Jalinagar in Davanagere, a locality that has now turned into an epicentre for the infection.
Pointing out that Jalinagar was a thickly populated slum with extremely narrow lanes, Bilagi said that the district administration had collected throat swab samples from all the residents in the locality, which had been sealed as a pre-emptive measure.
The district’s first Covid-19 victim had no history of travel and the authorities are yet to trace the source he contracted the infection from, said Davanagere superintendent of police Hanumantharaya.
“One of his daughters-in-law had recently been to Gujarat, and had returned to Harihar on March 15, along with two of her relatives. We have sent their throat swab samples for testing, and are awaiting the results,” said Bilagi.
Five of the six individuals who tested positive on Friday were primary contacts of the elderly man. “Of these, three were his daughters-in-law, one was a son, and the last a year-old grandchild, all of whom are responding well to treatment at the designated hospital,” the DC said.
Teams formed to check purchase of drugs for cold, cough
The district administration has constituted 35 teams to monitor purchase of medicines for cold, cough and fever – all of which are symptoms of Covid-19 – at the 15 pharmacies across the city. Members of these teams will check if the residents are purchasing these drugs without consulting doctors at the fever clinics.