7 more primary contacts identified in Hyderabad city

Hyderabad: Seven more primary contacts from Hyderabad who came in touch with the deceased 76-year old Covid-19 infected patient from Karnataka have been identified by the Telangana health authorities taking the total count to 41.

The good news as on Saturday is that the condition of all of them was found to be stable. Due to the seriousness of the situation, the health condition of all of them is being closely monitored by the rapid response teams.

The ambulance carrying the patient, his son and three other family members went around few corporate hospitals in Hyderabad on March 10 seeking admission.

During this process four of the family members got down from the ambulance at each hospital including CT Neuro, Gandhi, Apollo and Care hospital and spoke to hospital staff and doctors.

It was found that while staff at three hospitals had put on protective equipment during their interaction, the staff at one hospital were found to have not worn any safety masks or equipment. They are also in the home quarantine list but showed no symptoms on Saturday.

The severely ill old man was shifted from Gulbarga to Hyderabad in an ambulance that was hired from their native place. He reached Hyderabad around 3.30 am on March 10.

The same ambulance took him to various hospitals dropping him at Care, Banjara around 10.30 am. His family opted for discharge around 3.30 pm from Care and they hired a local ambulance from Hyderabad to shift the patient to Gulbarga and he died in transit.

It is learnt that Karnataka officials contacted the family while he was admitted for few hours in Care and informed them that the old man tested positive for coronavirus and hence he should be brought back immediately to be kept in isolation at the Gulbarga Medical College.

Telangana health officials rued lack of co-operation from the deceased person's family or relatives or from the Karnataka health department as contract tracing proved to be a big challenge without any information passed from their end.

The health teams had to contact every noted corporate hospital in the city and enquire whether any 76-year old person from Karnataka was brought there and accordingly connected dots to arrive at some clarity.

It is learnt that the old man's family did not disclose his recent travel history abroad while seeking admission in Hyderabad hospitals, but staff present there had their doubts seeing his health condition and symptoms and hence they were advised to approach Gandhi hospital for treatment.