A senior citizen undergoing treatment at Kolhapur’s Chhatrapati Pramila Raje (CPR) Hospital died of pneumonia on Monday morning.
As a precautionary measure, hospital authorities had sent the swab samples of the man to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, to test for the novel coronavirus. However, the test returned negative, much to the relief of authorities.
According to officials, the 75-year-old was diabetic and was admitted to CPR Hospital on Sunday. “The patient had no recent domestic or international travel history. Yet, as a precautionary measure and as per protocol, we sent his swab samples to the NIV for testing, and they have returned negative,” district civil surgeon Dr. B.C. Kempi-Patil said.
Kolhapur district has recorded two positive cases till now.
Guardian Minister Satej Patil said the administration is closely monitoring at least 75,000 people from the district, who recently returned after travelling to Pune and Mumbai — hotspots of the virus.
“It is observed that several people are not rigidly following lockdown orders, nor maintaining social distancing. In the past few days, the police authorities have seized more than 770 vehicles and collected fines totalling to more than ₹6.5 lakh from errant residents flouting the lockdown,” Mr. Patil said.
He warned that if people did not fall in line, even shops selling essential items would have to be shut down.
The district technically recorded its first case on March 26, after a girl from Kolhapur’s Peth Vadgaon had come into contact with a family from Islampur in Sangli district whose 24 members have tested positive for COVID-19.
However, this case is clubbed with the cases in Sangli, as the girl is placed in an isolation facility in Miraj.
Almost immediately after this case, a 37-year-old man from Mangalwar Peth in Kolhapur, who had returned from Pune, tested positive.
On Sunday night, the test samples of a woman related to this man returned positive as well, taking the total district tally to three. However, four other close relatives have tested negative. “As a precautionary measure, all four relatives have been placed in institutional quarantine facilities,” said a district official.
In all, samples of 31 suspected COVID-19 patients that were sent for testing have returned negative, authorities said.
