500 contacts of infected Sangli family under scanner

MUMBAI: Health officials in three cities, Mumbai, Delhi, and Sangli are keeping an eye on close to 500 people who may have been infected by four members of a family in Sangli, all of whom tested positive for Covid-19. The four also infected 19 other members of their extended family, including a two-year old, and two people who worked for them.

The officials have traced 434 low-risk contacts and 55 high-risk contacts who came in contact with the family from Islampur, Sangli.

The test reports of the 55 highrisk contacts are awaited, while the 434 other contacts have been asked to go into home quarantine. “We are trying to track every person who came in contact with this family. Until now, we have successfully tracked 434 low-risk contacts and 55 high-risk contacts,” said Sangli district collector Abhijeet Chaudhary.

To deal with the situation, state minister Jayant Patil (guardian minister of the district) has imposed strict restrictions on Islampur amidst the lockdown.

The district health department has also sought details of co-passengers of the four on flights from Saudi Arabia to Delhi, and from Delhi to Mumbai. The four then hired a cab to drive down to Islampur.

On March 11, the four landed in Delhi from Saudi Arabia and did some sight-seeing. Two days later, they landed in Mumbai and later visited Crawford Market. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they visited Nizamuddin area in Delhi, which has emerged as another cluster of the infection.

In Islampur, between March 14 and 19, the family organised a religious function attended by relatives from the Sangli and Kolhapur districts. The district health department said the four were already showing symptoms at the time, but instead of being in quarantine, organised social events. The district health department said the four were in Saudi Arabia for almost a month. The 21 others infected lived in close contact with the four.

On March 19, one of the family members finally approached a private doctor. The Sangli resident was later tested positive for coronavirus. The other three also subsequently tested positive.

The district health department informed that this is the first case in the country in which the majority of the patients, tested positive in large numbers, are from the same family.

On Monday, Sambhaji Bhide, founder of Shivpratishtan Hindustan, approached the district collector demanding that the family be booked for attempt to murder and violation of Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.

ON MARCH 11, THE FOUR

MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY LANDED IN DELHI FROM SAUDI ARABIA. TWO DAYS LATER, THEY VISITED MUMBAI