In Andhra Pradesh, YSRC MLA, son test positive for Covid-19 a second time

Bhumana Karunakar Reddy was shifted to Apollo Hospital for Chennai for better treatment.

Senior YSR Congress party lawmaker Bhumana Karunakar Reddy has been re-infected with Sars-Cov-2 for a second time in the last one-and-a-half months, officials said Thursday.

The MLA had earlier been infected in August and was treated for a week before he recovered. (Representative image/HT PHOTO)

Reddy, who represents Tirupati assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, tested positive for Covid-19 at an authorised private laboratory in the temple town on Wednesday evening, after he developed symptoms of fever and body pain.

“The MLA was admitted to Sri Venkateshwara Ramnarayan Ruia Government General Hospital in Tirupati, where he got tested again. And on Thursday, it was confirmed that he contracted the virus,” Ruia Hospital development committee chairman B Chandrasekhar told Hindustan Times.

Reddy, who was also former chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), was shifted to Apollo Hospital for Chennai for better treatment. His son Abhinay Reddy, who also tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time, is undergoing treatment in Ruia Hospital.

This is the first known case of a high-profile person contracting Covid-19 for a second time in the Telugu states.

The MLA had first contracted the virus in August. “On August 25, he was admitted to Ruia Hospital with symptoms of Covid-19 and tested positive for the virus. He underwent treatment for one week and was discharged on September 3 after he tested negative,” Chandrasekhar said.

After that, Reddy took part in various government programmes. “During the visit of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to Tirumala on September 24, too, he underwent test for Covid-19 again along with other leaders who attended the Brahmotsavams of Lord Venkateshwara. He tested negative then,” the hospital committee chairman said.

The MLA’s son, too, had first tested positive for Covid-19 in the first week of September but recovered within 10 days. “On Wednesday, both father and son developed symptoms of Covid-19 again and underwent tests in a private lab. Later, they got tested at Ruia Hospital,” Chandrasekhar said.

When contacted, Dr K Rambabu, state nodal officer for Covid-19, said there was every possibility of a person contracting Sars-Cov-2 for a second time.

“One cannot rule out the possibility of people getting re-infection of Coronavirus after certain period. A person would develop antibodies for the virus and they would be there in the body for a certain period. But if the virus attains a mutant form, the person might get the re-infection if he doesn’t take enough precautions,” Rambabu said.

In case of the Tirupati MLA, he said, one has to make a thorough study of viral form before drawing any conclusions. “We were told all the vital parameters of the MLA, as observed in CT scan and other tests, are normal and he has normal fever and related symptoms,” Rambabu said.

Meanwhile, YSRC parliament member from Eluru constituency Kotagiri Sridhar also tested positive for Covid-19. The MP went into home quarantine in Hyderabad and appealed to all those who had come in contact with him in the last few days to undergo test for the virus.