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Mysuru, May 1: Four people who brought a dead man’s body from Mumbai for cremation in his native place in Mandya district in Karnataka have tested positive for Covid-19 virus, and now the administration is trying to find out if the man himself had been an undetected positive.

According to Mandya district deputy commissioner M V Venkatesh, the deceased man was a 53-year-old native of B Kodagalli of Pandavapura taluk, Melkote hobli in Mandya district. He died after suffering a heart attack at the U N Desai government hospital in Mumbai on April 23.

The cremation took place outside the man's native village after the local administration refused to allow it inside the village.

Wanting the final rites performed in his native place, the man’s family got the body embalmed and procured all the medical records and certificates from the hospital and brought it in an ambulance belonging to the Desai government hospital.

When they reached Pandavapura taluk in Karnataka on the evening of April 24, the local administration did not allow the body to enter the village but allowed the relatives to cremate it outside the village.

And since the family had come from Mumbai, the district administration quarantined all seven of the man’s relatives, and their samples were sent for testing on 28 April.

The results showed that the deceased man’s 25-year-old son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and two-year-old grandchild are positive for Covid 19. All of them have been admitted at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences although they have no symptoms.

Deputy commissioner Venkatesh said that in the Desai hospital records in Mumbai there was no mention whether or not the man had been tested for Covid-19. “We are writing to Desai hospital to clarify if the deceased person was tested for Covid 19. It is also possible that the family got infected by the man’s son who works in the loan department of ICICI Bank in Mumbai and visits several offices in different areas of Mumbai,” he said.

The man’s ancestral B Kodagalli village now has been sealed off. Though tests done on other members of the family have come back negative, the Mandya administartions plans to repeat their tests.

So far 26 people have tested positive for Covid 19 in Mandya district.

Thiruvananthapuram, May 22: Kerala reported its highest rise of COVID-19 cases in a single day with 42 new cases on Friday of which 23 returned from other states and 17 from abroad.

Addressing media persons, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that of the new cases, 23 have come back from other States (Maharashtra-21, Tamil Nadu-1 and Andhra Pradesh-1) and 17 have returned from abroad (Kuwait-7, UAE-5, Saudi Arabia-2 and Qatar-2). Two are cases of local transmission including one health worker in Kasargod.

"A total of 12 persons from Kannur district, seven in Kasargod district, five each from Kozhikode and Palakkad districts, four each in Thrissur and Malappuram districts, two from Kottayam district, and one each in Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Wayanad districts are those who have tested positive, " he said.

Meanwhile, two patients under treatment for Coronavirus in Malappuram district have tested negative today. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Kerala is 732 and 216 patients are now under treatment in different hospitals. Kannur and Malappuram districts have 36 patients each, followed by 26 in Palakkad district, 21 in Kasargod district, 19 in Kozhikode district and 16 in Thrissur district.

The Chief Minister said that a 73-year-old woman had died in Thrissur district. She had recently returned from Mumbai.

There are 84,258 persons under observation across the state, 83,649 are quarantined at their homes or institutional quarantine centres and 609 are isolated in hospitals.

A total of 162 persons were admitted to hospitals today.

Till now, 51,310 samples have been sent for testing and 49,535 samples have been confirmed without any infection. Apart from this, as part of sentinel surveillance of high-risk groups, 7,072 samples were tested separately and out of these, 6,630 samples have been confirmed with no infection.
No new place was declared as hotspot today and there are 28 hotspots in the state.

So far, 91,344 people have come to the state from foreign countries and other states by road, sea and air.

Expressing concern over the rising numbers, the Chief Minister said, "The increase in numbers is a serious warning. Our COVID-19 preventive measures need to be enhanced. More people are expected to come back and we will ensure proper testing, treatment and care to all. Serious patients are among those who are coming back."
"We will ensure additional facilities including ventilators in hospitals to accommodate more in-patients. Huge rush is being seen at some places. People should observe more self-restraint or else all efforts will become ineffective," he added.

Udupi, May 24: Three among the 18 coronavirus positive cases reported in Udupi district today were policemen. 

A police constable of Karkala Rural Police Station and ASI of Ajekar Police Station were tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and authorities have taken steps to seal the Police Stations they were working. A policeman from Brahmavar police station also tested positive.

The district administration reported seal Karkala Rural Police station, Ajekar Police Station, and Brahmavar Police Station. Apart from them Karkala Town Station and Circle station are being sealed. All the policemen and policewomen working in these five stations will be quarantined.

Superintendent of Police N Vishnuvardha said that ''all the primary contacts of the police officers who were tested positive will undergo screening and their swabs will be collected and sent to Lab for test.''