Assam COVID-19 Patient Returned from New Delhi, Stayed in Guwahati: Report

Dispur, March 31, 2020:

Dispelling earlier reports that the COVID-19 positive man from Karimganj district in Assam had returned from the European nation Germany, we have received reports that the 52-year-old had returned to Assam from New Delhi on March 10. He had reportedly boarded a Rajdhani Express and got down at Badarpur. Upon arrival, he had also reportedly spent a good deal of time in Assam, officials sources have revealed to Inside Northeast.

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Furthermore, the man has been said to be staying, at one point, in the house of one Matiur Rahman in Athgaon area in Guwahati city. Reportedly, he reached Guwahati from Delhi on March 10, and stayed in the city on March 11. On the 13th of March, he reached Badarpur. He reportedly developed fever on March 17 and attended Cachar Cancer Hospital on March 18. Went back home and had irregular fever. He reached the Silchar Medical on March 29, around 11 am.

Many local media platforms have also pointed out that he visited Hatigaon area -- not far from Dispur -- in the region's largest city. The patient was said to be suffering from cancer, and he reportedly visited the North East Cancer Research Institute in Guwahati.

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He also reportedly came in touch with people near Nizamuddin, the ticking time bomb in India, where many people have potentially been exposed to people carrying the virus strain. The man also went to visit the historic Jama Masjid in Delhi during his travels in the national capital, where he had gone on business. The source further informed that at least 10 family members of the infected person are being taken to the hospital to be screened.

Officials have also informed us that the man did not reveal his travel history and did not go into quarantine after the entire nation went into lockdown mode in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

An official source further informed us that the man interacted with many people from the village, Hasanpur, including medical personnel. “He mingled with many in the village, as per my knowledge, mostly doctors; as per my knowledge, he consulted several doctors during the last couple of weeks amid deteriorating health”, the official told us.

It is pertinent to mention that the COVID-19 positive status of the Karimganj man was confirmed by Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Biswa Sarma, tweeting about the development, has confirmed that the Karimganj man is the state’s first case of the coronavirus and has been admitted at the Silchar Medical College. “His condition is stable”, Sarma added in the tweet.

The man is reportedly a 52-year-old middle-aged businessman from Karimganj district and has been tested COVID-19 POSITIVE at the Silchar Medical College, one of the few designated testing centres in the State. The declaration has been made at a time when the entire state is holding its breath after several hundred Assamese people have been discovered visiting a religious congregation in Nizamuddin, New Delhi.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE:

At the time of filing of this report, the new coronavirus or COVID-19 has killed as many as 40,655 people across the world. 824,255 people across the world have been infected so far, and 174,359 have recovered. Of the 609,241 cases 30,868 (5%) are said to be in a critical condition. In India, 1,251 cases have been reported, and of those, 32 people have died.