Telangana on Thursday reported four new coronavirus positive cases taking the total number of cases in the state to 45. All four new patients do not have travel history abroad; and two of those infected are a doctor couple.
Patient 42 in Telangana is a 49-year-old male, a resident of Quthbullapur, Medchal district with a travel history to Delhi. The man travelled to Delhi on March 14 by the Samparkranthi train and was in Delhi for three days. He boarded the Telangana Express on March 17, arriving at the Secunderabad Railway Station. By then, he had already developed a cold and a fever. Patient 42 went home in an autorickshaw with his son.
In the following days, Patient 42 consulted a doctor at Quthbullapur who gave him medicine for fever. The patient then self-reported to Gandhi hospital on March 25 and samples sent for testing returned positive on March 26.
Identified as Patient number 43 and 44 are a 36-year-old woman and her 41-year-old husband, both doctors.
While the health department did not release the travel history of patient 43, her husband patient 44 on March 17 had travelled to Tirupathi on a 10.30 am Indigo flight. He visited the SVIMS hospital to meet a doctor, he returned back the same day at 7.05 pm in an Indigo flight. He stayed home for the next two days and on March 20, he visited the Yashoda hospital at Somajiguda (where he is presumed to have been employed). He, however, returned back home an hour later as he wasn’t feeling well. Patient 44 developed symptoms and took medication on March 21, states the health department.
Both the doctors reached Gandhi Hospital to get tested on March 24.
"The couple were both working in the same private hospital. They have no travel history. They have no contact history as far as we know, but it is not surprising, as frontline health workers will be the first to get affected," said Srinivas Rao, Director Of Public Health Telangana earlier told TNM.
Patient 45 is a 45-year-old male and a resident of Bhuddhanagar, Secunderabad with a travel history to Delhi. The patient’s health is stable and has been admitted to a designated hospital.
The Telangana health department insists that there is no evidence of community transmission and maintains that all the confirmed cases have a history of travel or contact with suspected or confirmed cases.
None of the states have so far declared that community transmission of COVID-19 has started in India. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) too has denied community transmission in the country. According to the WHO, community transmission is when patients who are coronavirus positive have no travel history abroad, and no known contact with someone who already has the disease.