Barmer man tests positive after a trip to Jaipur’s hot spot
Barmer: Rajasthan’s Barmer district reported its first Covid-19 case on Wednesday when a 58-year-old man posted here tested positive for the disease after returning from Jaipur’s Ramganj, a hotspot of the pandemic, 700 km away on Sunday despite the lockdown imposed to check the spread of the disease, a top health official said.
The man tested positive even as the state government has said it was replicating the strict Bhilwara model of containment in hotspots like Ramganj, where a 45-year-old man become a super spreader and transmitted the virus to his at least 19 family members after returning from Oman via Dubai on March 13. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said the model adopted in Bhilwara has set the standard in fight against the pandemic and involved complete sealing of the area for mass screening involving six lakh houses after a doctor tested positive for Covid-19 last month.
Barmer district collector Vishram Meena said that all the four are government teachers. All the four have shown their identity cards at the check posts in the way from Jaipur to Barmer while saying them that they are going to join their duty.
Barmer’s chief medical and health officer Dr Kamlesh Choudhary said a curfew has been imposed in the district’s Chohtan block and his department has started a screening in the area after the 58-year-old government school principal tested positive.
The man, who is from Ramganj, travelled with three others to Barmer on April 5. “After reaching Barmer, the man complained of coronavirus symptoms. His samples were sent for Covid-19 testing on April 7. On Wednesday, he reported positive,” Dr Choudhary said.
He said one of the three, who travelled with the principal, has tested negative for Covid-19 while the results of the other two are awaited.
The principal, who is reported corona positive have taken a meeting on next day after reaching Barmer. District administration has put all the six under observation. While another three who have traveled with him were put to isolation.
The 58-year-old, who was kept in isolation in Barmer on April 6, was referred to the Jodhpur government hospital on Thursday early morning, Dr Choudhary said.
He travelled in a private vehicle from Jaipur via Jalore even as Barmer district’s borders have been sealed as part of the lockdown to ensure social distancing.
Officials said three medical teams deployed for screening people at Gandhav check post through which the vehicle entered into Barmer have been removed. “Till April 5, three medical teams were deployed at Gandhav checkpoint. Following the district collector’s directive, the three teams were removed. The decision was taken after the borders were completely sealed,” said Choudhary.
