Hyderabad: Telangana on Monday recorded its first case of coronavirus, with a young male, employed in a software company confirmed as being infected by it. The 24-year-old man is currently in an ICU of the isolation ward at the Gandhi General Hospital (GGH), where his condition, according to health minister Etala Rajendar, was stable.
The state’s first Covid-19 patient is a resident of Mahendra Hills in Secunderabad and lives with an extended joint family, Mr Rajender said. According to the minister, the man flew from Dubai to Bengaluru and then came to Hyderabad by bus.
The news was first announced by the Union ministry of health about the positive Covid-19 case in Hyderabad. Confirming this, Mr Rajendar told a press conference in the city on Tuesday that “there was no cause for alarm because of the case”.
“The state government is on top of the issue and has taken every possible precaution. We are taking more steps to prevent the spread of this disease. All those known to have come in contact with the patient are being monitored for their health and steps are being taken to test them too. There are enough facilities in hospitals to deal with more cases, if need be,” he said.
The health minister said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has reviewed the development and instructed all departments related to health, transport, education and others that deal with matters involving large gatherings of people to take strict measures to control the disease. He said the Chief Minister has assured that funds would not be a problem in fighting the virus.
After repeated prodding from reporters, Mr Rajendar said, “We have a total of 80 people who are being ‘tracked’ as those who were in close contact with the patient. These include members of his family, 20 staffers from Apollo Hospital in Secunderabad, where he was admitted for four days before being referred to the Gandhi Hospital, and 27 people who travelled with him in a bus from Bengaluru to Hyderabad.”
The Covid-19 ‘patient zero’ for Telangana, according to the health minister, caught the disease during his trip to Dubai in the middle of February.
The man went to Dubai on February 15 and stayed there for “four or five days” meeting with his colleagues, including some from his company’s Hong Kong office.
“Telangana had no case of the virus that was locally transmitted. This man acquired it in Dubai from where he flew to Bengaluru. He stayed there for two days and came to Hyderabad in a bus on February 21,” Rajender said.
On arrival at Bengaluru from Dubai on February 20, the man was apparently asymptomatic for five days and spent the next two days visiting his company’s office in Bengaluru.
“On February 22, he travelled to Hyderabad in a bus and was at home for five days. He visited Apollo Hospital as an outpatient for a check-up, because he had developed a fever and other symptoms. Following couple more visits as an out-patient, he was admitted in Apollo. He was there for two days — February 27 and 28 — before being referred to the Gandhi Hospital on Sunday,” Mr Rajender added.
