Thirteen new COVID-19 cases were detected in the State on Tuesday, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 101. One of the patients is a pregnant woman, who is stable. While two patients are in ICU, the remaining are responding to treatment.
Among the new cases are three labourers from Hospet, two of whom had been in close contact with a person from Rajajinagar in Bengaluru. They had travelled to Bengaluru on March 16 by the Jan Shatabdi train and travelled back on 18 by Hospet Express, said Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education). Their contact tracing is underway.
Primary contacts
Addressing presspersons on Tuesday, Mr. Akhtar said among the new patients was the wife of a doctor who had attended to the 76-year-old patient from Kalaburagi who passed away. Many of the new patients were primary contacts of previously infected persons, he said.
Speaking of the infections at Nanjangud in Mysuru district through a pharma company worker, Mr. Akhtar said the results of swabs of the raw material packages from the company had tested negative for COVID-19. “So, the possibility that the person could have contracted the infection from the packages has been ruled out. We are consulting with NIV, Pune, on whether we should test the raw material that the company got from China. We are also exploring if any foreign delegation or foreign visitors had come to the company prior to the first case showing symptoms,” he said.
As the guidelines mandate that all those with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) should also be tested, the department has directed all private hospitals to mandatorily report to the District Surveillance Officer all SARI cases admitted under them.
“We have also recommended the empiric use of Chloroquine tablets for prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 and instructed Deputy Commissioners to ensure that health workers are provided with the tablets. We have adequate stocks to administer the first dose of tablets to health workers — once a week for seven weeks. Their family members will be given the tablet once a week for three weeks,” he said, adding that more stock is in transit.
No shortage of PPE kits
Mr. Akhtar asserted that the State had adequate stock of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits to meet the requirement. “We have placed orders and the supplies we are getting are sufficient to meet our requirement. We are not really taking into account bulk supply. What we are more interested in is regular supply to meet our needs,” he said.
