Mangaluru, Jul 2: A seven-day old baby boy was tested positive for Covid-19, Health Department officials said on Thursday.
The infant is currently undergoing treatment at a designated Covid Hospital here. The baby was born at a private hospital in the city last week.
According to the officials, it was not known as to how the newborn contracted the infection.
In a shocking incident, a pharmacist-cum-production manager of an Ayurvedic product company in Chennai’s T.Nagar died after drinking a chemical preparation he reportedly formulated for tackling the Coronavirus.
The managing director of the company, who is an ophthamologist by qualification, was hospitalised after he fainted soon after he ingested the chemical component.
The deceased, K.Sivanesan, 47, of Perungudi, was with Chennai-based Sujatha Biotech, an Ayurvedic and herbal products company which was founded 30 years ago. It has a plant in Kashipur, Uttarakhand, where Sivanesan was working. Sivanesan had devised formulas of various products and used to visit his managing director Dr. Rajkumar frequently in the city.
Due to the lockdown, Sivanesan came to Chennai and stayed with his family in Perungudi. On Thursday morning, he procured the chemical component from a market in Parry’s Corner.
First he gave a small amount powder he derived from the chemical to 67 years-old Rajkumar who fainted after tasting it.
Even as he was being resuscitated, Sivanesan went into the kitchen of the house and gulped it in liquid form after adding water to it. He could not be revived.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, T.Nagar, Ashok Kumar, said, “Our investigation revealed that Sivanesan died after drinking the preparation he claimed would help COVID-19 patients. His managing director fainted after tasting it initially. Further investigation is on.”
Sivanesan was rushed to a private hospital in T.Nagar and declared dead by the doctors there. Later his body was shifted to Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem. Teynampet police registered a case under section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code for unnatural death.
N.S.Vasan, designer-cum-media manager of the company said, “Due to the lockdown, Sivanesan stayed in the city and one day told us he heard of some medicine from U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent speech for curing Coronavirus. He said it would bring more immunity and help to prevent COVID-19. Deciding to test the effect of the medicine, he went to Parry’s Corner and bought the powder.” He added that Sivanesan must have taken a heavy dosage of the ‘drug’ and he was killed instantly.
Mangaluru, Apr 4: No positive case of coronavirus has been detected in Dakshina Kannada district as per the latest update released by the district administration on Friday.
Test results of throat swab samples of 16 people with suspected symptoms were received today and all of them were negative.
A total of 38,518 people have been screened for coronavirus in Dakshina Kannada district till date with 72 people being screened today.
Karwar, Mar 19: Four drug peddlers were arrested on Thursday and 2.68 Kg of brown sugar worth Rs 2 Crore was seized from them while they were smuggling the banned drug by road from Yellapura to Ankola.
Police identified the arrested persons as Narayan (35), Chandrahas Gunaga (29), Veerabhadra Hegade (43) and Praveen Bhat (30).
Police have registered a case and investigations are ongoing.
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