Sixteen people with a travel history abroad have been home quarantined in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka health minister B Sriramulu said here on Sunday.
The Minister said he was visiting hospitals on the directions of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa after India’s first COVID-19 death was reported from the district.
“I am visiting hospitals and seeing how the isolation wards are maintained.
There are 16 people in Kalaburagi who had returned from abroad. They have been home quarantined for 14 days. We are closely monitoring them,” he told reporters in Kalaburagi.
He said the Chief Minister had directed him to visit the district, inspect hospitals and isolation wards and submit a report.
Sriramulu said a five kilometre buffer zone has been created around the area where the 72-year-old died on March 10.
Of the four suspected coronavirus cases in the family of the deceased, three have tested negative, he added.
“There is no need to panic even if they test positive or negative because there is no need to fear of losing life after contracting the virus,” he said.
He claimed that there were reports from across the world that about 63,000 people were cured from this disease.
He said coronavirus tests would be mandatory for whoever arrives in the state from abroad and they would be kept under observation for 14 days
On wearing masks, the minister said only those having cold and cough need to do so.
Meanwhile the health department said contacts of positive cases reported so far were being monitored out and community checks done as a precautionary measure.
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