Minister seeks report on origin of COVID-19 at hospital

Mangaluru: Karnataka Fisheries Minister and Dakshina Kannada district-in-charge Kota Srinivas Poojary has given instructions to the district deputy commissioner and district health officer to trace the origin of COVID-19 infection at the First Neuro hospital at Padil here and submit a report to the government.

The Minister gave the direction at an emergency meeting of officials and health department authorities after three positive cases were reported on Wednesday, all of them with links to people who have been treated at the hospital.

He sought an immediate report from the six-member team of experts formed for the purpose to clear the apprehensions in the minds of the public.

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

A number of tests are being done on patients and their contacts who were treated at the hospital for other diseases.

Bairy said the team has got all details of the contacts of positive patients from the hospital and the investigation is progressing well. A lot of samples have been collected and results of many are awaited, he said.

Of the total 28 positive cases recorded in the district so far, 12 from Bantwal, Narikombu and Boloor have connections with patients admitted at the First Neuro hospital, which has been declared a containment zone since April 23.