Woman tests positive for COVID-19 in Bihar, total count 10

A woman tested positive for COVID-19 in Patna on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 10, an official said here. Pradip Das, the director of Rajendra Memorial Research Institute - an ICMR centre here which had been conducting the bulk of tests, told PTI that she is undergoing treatment at NMCH hospital here.

The woman, an employee of a private hospital, had come in contact with a COVID 19-positive man from Munger, who was briefly admitted there before being shifted to AIIMS, Patna. The 38-year-old man from Munger, with a travel history to Qatar, died of renal failure last Saturday. His test reports confirming that he had contracted the viral disease arrived a day later.

The private hospital, situated in Khemnichak locality on the outskirts of the city, has been sealed and all its employees were being tested. On Friday, two other employees of the hospital one local and another hailing from adjacent district of Nalanda had tested positive.

Altogether 90 reports came on Saturday, of which 89 were negative, Das said. Earlier, a middle-aged woman and a 12-year-old boy, who lived in a house adjacent to that of the Qatar returnee, had tested positive and were subsequently rushed to a hospital in Bhagalpur.

Other COVID-19 cases in the state include a resident of Siwan who came back from Dubai and three residents of Patna. Meanwhile, the state's Principal Secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar, has said that testing for COVID-19 is all set to gather momentum from Sunday.

"We have identified everyone who returned from abroad in the week preceding the lockdown. All of them will be tested on a priority basis. So would be those who may have come in contact with them," he told reporters. According to the state health department, close to 600 samples have been sent for testing so far. Besides the RMRI, testing facilities are available at IGIMS and PMCH hospitals both run by the state government.