‘Lost 3 kin, people must follow protocols’
GURDASPUR: Rahul, 25, got married to Payal, 24, in a modest ceremony on April 24 at Ghuman village of Gurdaspur district amid Covid curbs. Ten days on, Rahul’s mother Kavita Kumari (45) developed Covid-like symptoms and was admitted to a private hospital in Amritsar. Kavita died on May 9, a day after she was declared positive for the malignant disease. Kavita and her 49-year-old husband Bishan Kumar’s swab samples were taken for test at a Batala hospital five days ago and the latter tested negative for the virus. Kavita was cremated with Covid protocols in Amritsar.
A day after, on May 10, Kavita’s mother Rano Devi (65), a resident of Jammu who had been staying at her daughter’s house in Ghuman since Rahul’s wedding, too, died and virus was the prime suspect. “On May 10 morning, Rano Devi went to the bathroom where she tripped. When we tried to lift her up, she was already dead. Though she had not undergone a Covid-19 test, she most likely died of the virus. She was cremated in the village,” says Bishan’s younger brother Raj Kumar (37), a tailor.
Overwhelmed with two back-to-back deaths, the family had another jolt in store. On May 10 evening, Bishan Kumar, a bulky man who ran a grocery shop in the village, complained of uneasiness and breathlessness. He was taken to a doctor in the village and it was suggested that he be hospitalised. “We immediately drove towards Amritsar’s Fortis Escorts hospital, but he died on the way in the car. Bishan had no influenza-like symptoms. Though he had tested negative six days ago, he might have contracted the virus during his wife’s treatment,” says Raj Kumar. Bishan and Kavita’s other son Gaurav Kumar (24) flew from Dubai after his parents’ and maternal grandmother’s death. Ghuman senior medical officer Gurdev Singh says, “Tests of only two of the deceased were done, and only one of them was found positive. The third is a suspected Covid-19 death.”