Among the 13 cases reported in the city on Friday, 11 are secondary contacts of P653, a housekeeping staff of Shifa Hospital, while the other two are contacts of P911. One of the two contacts of P911, P988, is a six-year-old girl.
A week ago, four contacts of P653, a 35-year-old man, tested positive. The man found out about contracting COVID-19 on May 5.
Located at Queen’s Road, Shifa Hospital first shot to prominence with a DNB student doctor testing positive on April 12, three days after treating a patient with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI), who was found to have been afflicted with the infection on April 4. Shifa Hospital is one of the first responder hospitals for COVID-19 in the city.
Besides the doctor and the housekeeping staff, a nurse — a contact of P653 — had also tested positive on April 22. The BBMP had shut the facility after the doctor tested positive, but could not prevent the disease from spreading.
On May 6, civic authorities also sealed Shivajinagar’s Chandni Chowk area with 100 houses, where P653 lived with 73 people in a building.
“About 105 have been quarantined,” Dr Siddappaji A, health officer, BBMP east zone, told DH. “Chandni Chowk is a crowded area. So, the incident commander decided to seal the entire area. The man was working in a hotel that has been sealed and 33 people have been quarantined,” he added.
Relief to Mangamanapalya residents
While the residents of Shivajinagar and Padarayanapura are in panic mode, there was relief on Friday for those in Mangamanapalya, adjacent to the Hongasandra cluster, as all those randomly tested in the area tested negative for COVID-19.
Health officials tested 21 people in the area after it reported six positive cases.
Dr Suresh, health officer of Bommanahalli zone, declared all of them to be negative.