The Meghalaya government on Tuesday launched an intensive drive to locate the ‘silent carrier’ who infected the state’s first patient - doctor on Monday.
Nearly 2,000 primary and secondary contacts of the doctor at Shillong’s Bethany Hospital have been traced and samples collected from 90 of them, almost half of the primary contacts. Results are expected later.
Initial investigations suggest that the doctor, who doesn’t have a travel history outside the state, could have been infected by his son-in-law, a pilot with Air India who had returned from New York last month, but was asymptomatic for Covid-19.
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“Preliminary investigation suggest that one of the relatives of the concerned person had a travel history to one of the infected countries and he was back in Shillong before the 14-day quarantine period was over,” Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said on Tuesday in a video shared on Facebook by his office.
According to a letter written by the Meghalaya health department to the union health ministry, the patient’s son-in-law travelled from New York to Delhi on March 16. He travelled from Delhi to Imphal on March 17 and returned to Delhi on March 20.
On March 24 he travelled from Delhi to Shillong on March 24 and was placed under home quarantine from March 24 to April 7 after registering with the state government. The letter adds that surveillance team of heath department had visited him during the quarantine period.
{{/usCountry}}On March 24 he travelled from Delhi to Shillong on March 24 and was placed under home quarantine from March 24 to April 7 after registering with the state government. The letter adds that surveillance team of heath department had visited him during the quarantine period.
{{/usCountry}}“Though the person took all precautions, but sometimes we see asymptomatic cases as well, who don’t show any signs but could be a carrier. Therefore there is a high chance that it could have been passed on from there. We are looking at all possibilities of how this could have happened,” Sangma said.
The Meghalaya government has asked its Assam counterpart for support in the testing of the 2,000 contacts. The Shillong-based North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) is the lone Covid-19 testing lab in Meghalaya.
“Our basic strategy would be to identify, isolate and test all contacts for the first few days till we are able to zero down and close the loop of transmission,” Sangma said in Shillong after a cabinet meet.
Both branches of the private hospital where the doctor worked have been shut and the staff placed under quarantine. The government has asked everyone who may have visited Bethany Hospital on or after March 22 to register themselves by calling 108 or getting in touch with the health department.
Meghalaya’s capital Shillong has been placed under curfew for 48 hours beginning 6:00 am on Tuesday.
Patient commits suicide at Bethany Hospital
Meanwhile, a patient who was admitted to Bethany Hospital, the hospital where Meghalaya’s first Covid-19 patient works, committed suicide by jumping out of his room early on Tuesday—a day after the institution was sealed.
“This case has nothing to do with coronavirus. This individual who committed suicide was a substance user (drug addict) and he was admitted for rehabilitation. He also had some psychiatric problems and in all likelihood the suicide may be result of withdrawal symptoms and psychiatric problems,” the chief minister told journalists in Shillong.