Fruit vendor dies, 65-year-old tested COVID-19 positive as community transmission fears crop up

Mangalore Today News Network

Kalaburagi, April 9, 2020: The death of a 67-year-old male fruit vendor due to COVID-19 and the tests of a 65-year-old man returning positive for coronavirus in Kalaburagi city have given rise to a suspicion that COVID-19 might have reached the community transmission stage.

The 65-year-old patient had developed Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and he was later confirmed as coronavirus-positive.

The medical bulletin does not identify the travel history of both the patients, who are from Kalaburagi city and are merchants. The deceased was a roadside fruit vendor at Saraswathi locality, and people known to him said that he had not gone out of the city over the last few months.

Bahmani C.T. Malty Specialty Hospital

The 65-year-old is a hardware merchant and he too does not have a travel history.

Sources said that as both are merchants, they might have come in contact with any of the 90 primary contacts in Kalaburagi. Some other sources said that the deceased man from Bagalkot had visited Kalaburagi a few days before his death.

Twenty primary contacts of the 65-year-old man have been traced, Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner Sharat B.

In a first, the Kalaburagi police registered an FIR against the private hospital, Bahmani C.T. Malty Specialty Hospital, on the complaint of the district health and family welfare officer for not alerting the authorities about COVID-like symptoms of the deceased patient.

An attempt was made to assault Asha activists and Anganwadi workers in Kalaburagi. The DC warned of strong action against miscreants.

He has also written to a dean of a private hospital saying if doctors fail to perform their duties, they would be treated as traitors.