11 of 12 active Covid 19 cases in DK linked to First-neuro hospital; source of infection not known

Team Udayavani, May 7, 2020, 4:33 PM IST

Mangaluru: The First-Neuro hospital located at Padil has emerged as a source of Covid 19 infection in Dakshina Kannada.

As many as 11 cases, out of the 12 active cases in the district are directly or indirectly linked to the first-Neuro hospital.

A 50-year-old woman (patient 390) from Bantwal who tested Covid positive, and passed away on April 19. used to visit the hospital where her mother-in-law, aged 75 was undergoing treatment for stroke since March 18.

Her mother-in-law (patient 432) also tested positive for coronavirus later and passed away on April 23 at Wenlock Hospital where she had subsequently been shifted.

Three other primary contacts of Patient 432, a sweeper (patient 501) working at the Padil hospital and a mother-son duo from Kulashekara tested Covid positive on April 26 and 27 respectively.

The 80-year-old lady (Patient 507) who was undergoing treatment at First Neuro was lodged in the room adjacent to patient 432 while her 45-year-old son (patient 506) used to visit her at the hospital.

The recent case of a five-member family from Boloor who tested positive too is linked with the hospital. It is gathered that a 58-year-old(Patient 536) who was discharged from the hospital recently tested positive and four other member of her family too are infected. This includes fer husband (P-579), aged 62 and her daughter’s husband (P-658) who tested positive few days back. Two other members of the family 38-year-old daughter and 11-year-old granddaughter of P-536 too tested positive om May 6.

On May 6, a 16-year-old girl from Bantwal, daughter of patient 390 and grand daughter of patient 432 too tested covid positive and is being treated at Wenlock Hospital.

Meanwhile officials are still not able to trace the origin of the infection. A six-member team of experts formed for the purpose is confused whether the infection spread from Padil to Bantwal or from Bantwal to Padil. If not, whether there were any other sources of infection in the hospital at Padil.

Dakshina Kannada district-in-charge Kota Srinivas Poojary on Wednesday sought an immediate report from the six-member team.

The district health officer Ramachandra Bairy said the team is collecting information from the patients about their contacts at the hospital.