COVID-19 sneaking into rural Rajasthan, father-son test positive

Jaipur: The COVID-19 is slowly sneaking into the rural areas of Rajasthan.

The tehsil of Aspur, situated in Dungarpur district, has two positive cases — a 48-year-old man and his 14-year-old son.

The father-son rode a bike from Indore to Aspur. They were living in Indore and reached Dungarpur on March 25 and were screened on March 26, said Additional Chief Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh.

Soon after the test reports came, the entire tehsil was sent into quarantine, said Dungarpur Collector Kanaram, adding that they were screened at the community health centre as they started developing symptoms on arrival, and were then admitted to the Udaipur district hospital.

They are now in the isolation ward, said Kanaram.

Sunil Kumar, Sub Divisional Officer from Aspur, said that since the report of the father-son confirmed the virus, we have imposed curfew in the nearby affected area to ensure there is zero mobility. Essential goods are being delivered at home in the area by teams formed by the administration. No vehicle is allowed in this area and people have been asked to stay indoors, he added.

Dungarpur Chief Medical and Health Officer Mahendra Kumar Parmar said that 20 people had come in contact with the father and son.

Of these, 11 were close contacts who were transferred to a hostel turned quarantine centre formed recently in Aspur.

To date, 67 samples have been sent to the Udaipur hospital for testing, out of which two have tested positive (including this father-son samples) and 57 are negative. The results of eight samples are awaited.

These 67 samples have been collected from foreign travellers who visited the area recently and the residents and domestic travellers who had a travel history of corona affected areas like Bhilwara, Mumbai and Delhi.

Parmar said that over two lakh houses had been surveyed in the district and 641 people were recommended home isolation. Out of these, 374 have completed their quarantine period. At least 731 teams have been deputed in the district who have screened over eight lakh people.

Chhaya Choubisa, Assistant Director, Information and Public Relations, said that the administration is working on a war footing to spread awareness about coronavirus.

The coronavirus has marked its presence in 10 districts of the state. Ajmer recently reported four positive cases, Churu, Pali and Sikar have one patient each, Jhunjhunu has seven, and Dungarpur has two, Jodhpur has seven, Jaipur 10 and Bhilwara stays on top with 25 patients as of now, said Rohit Kumar Singh.

IANS