5th COVID-19 Positive Case Reported In Telangana

An Indonesian citizen on a visit to Karimnagar has been tested positive for COVID-19, taking the number of positive cases reported in Telangana to 5.

The person was part of a group of ten people from Indonesia who were in Karimnagar for a religious meet. The group was traveling with 3 Indians, who are also under quarantine at Gandhi Hospital here.

Health Minister Etela Rajender said the person had come along with the group to India on March 9 and took a train from Delhi and reached Hyderabad.

The Health Minister, who reviewed the COVID-19 preparedness on Tuesday, said all the contacts of 4 COVID-19 positive cases have tested negative.

The first COVID-19 positive patient from Hyderabad with a travel history to Dubai had 88 contacts, the 2nd patient, a 24-year-old girl with a travel history to Italy had 42 close contacts, the 3rd one with a travel history to the Netherlands had 69 persons who came in close contact with him while the 4th positive patient from Hyderabad with a travel history to Scotland had 11 close contacts.

“Our teams have tried their best to be meticulous and identified close contacts of all the 4 positive patients. All of them have tested negative. We are in the process of tracking close contacts of the Indonesian citizen,” he said.

Meanwhile, the district administration in Karimnagar has begun a door-to-door survey in areas where the Indonesian group visited to check if there were more people suffering from symptoms of coronavirus.

Sources said a group of Indonesians arrived in New Delhi on February 22, and 10 of them along with 3 Indians arrived in Karimnagar on March 14. The group stayed in 2 masjids at Mukarampura and Housing Board Colony areas. In the course of their religious campaign, they also went about meeting people in some localities in the town.

With one of them testing positive for coronavirus, the district administration launched efforts to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 in areas where the Indonesians stayed and visited.