Pune woman tests positive, source remains untraced
nPUNE: A Pune woman who has no travel history to a foreign country and no direct contact traced so far to any person with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has tested positive for the infection, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) said on Saturday, sparking questions on whether this could be a case of community transmission of the highly contagious pathogen.
The 41-year-old woman, who attended a wedding at Navi Mumbai earlier this month, is a resident of the Sinhagad Road area, where Pune’s first two Covid-19 cases were reported. Pune accounts for 23 of the 63 cases reported in Maharashtra so far. The total cases count saw another sharp jump on Saturday, with the tally climbing to 283 in India.
Divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said four family members who came in direct contact with the patient have been isolated at their homes, while the driver of a cab she hired has been quarantined in hospital.
“We have already traced over 100 people who came in contact with the patient and also contacttracing those who came in contact with the four family members of the patient. This number may run in hundreds. A central government team has visited the hospital where the woman is admitted to decide on whether the case is of local transmission or community transmission. Officials believe that it could be due to local transmission if the patient came in contact with any positive patient unknowingly,” he said.
With the latest case on Saturday, Pune has so far recorded 23 positive cases.
A 25-year-old man who returned from Ireland recently was also tested positive, health officials said, even as experts expressed apprehensions that the woman’s case may take India’s fight against Covid-19 into the next stage – community transmission. The Union health ministry maintains that there is no evidence of community transmission in the country so far. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India is still at Stage II of the disease.
Doctors treating the woman said she was critical and on ventilator support in an intensive care unit (ICU) at Bharati Hospital. She does not have travel history to a foreign country but visited Vashi in Navi Mumbai for a wedding on March 3, district collector Naval Kishore Ram said.
“We are investigating the case... She must have come in contact with someone who had foreign travel history,” Ram said, adding that the case has been referred to higher authorities.
The woman tested positive for the infection after her throat swabs were sent to NIV to check for possibility of the swine flu (H1N1), he said.
“As the patient is too serious, she is not being moved to the government quarantine facility at Naidu hospital...,” said Sanjay Lalwani, medical director of the health facility.
Archana Patil, state health director, said ICMR recommendations suggest giving HIV (human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS) drugs to critical Covid-19 patients.