A coronavirus "super-spreader" who refused to self-isolate prompted the quarantine of about tens of thousands, officials said.
The "super-spreader" did not self-quarantine after traveling to Italy and Germany, and attended a large Sikh festival in India in mid-March.
The man died shortly after the festival, and was posthumously diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
His diagnosis prompted officials to lock down 20 neighboring villages in northern India in a bid to contain the spread.
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A coronavirus "super-spreader" who refused to self-isolate after traveling prompted the quarantine of about 40,000 people in India, officials said.
Residents from 20 villages in northern India have been quarantined after coming in contact with a 70-year-old man at a Sikh festival of Hola Mohalla, which attracts about 10,000 per day of the six-day festival in mid-March, BBC reported.
The man refused to self-quarantine after traveling back to India from Italy and Germany, according to the BBC report. He died shortly after the festival and was posthumously diagnosed with the coronavirus. © Manjunath Kiran/AFP via Getty Images
BBC reported that a week after his death, 19 of his relatives tested positive for the coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19.
"So far, we have been able to trace 550 people who came into direct contact with him and the number is growing. We have sealed 15 villages around the area he stayed," an official told BBC. Another five adjoining villages were later put on lockdown as well.
The coronavirus has infected more than half a million people worldwide, and the global death toll has surpassed 27,000. In India alone, the country has nearly 900 cases and 20 deaths, but with one of the lowest testing rates in the world, experts believe the figures could be much higher, BBC reported.
India imposed a nationwide lockdown for 21 days earlier this week, impacting 1.3 billion people.
"There will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes," India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a televised address, though residents are still able to buy essentials like medicine and food.
KarAccidentTowns on March 28th, 2020 at 14:52 UTC »
The real super spreaders are cruise ships: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/us/coronavirus-cruise-ships-zandaam.html?referringSource=articleShare
There are still many (edit: 18!) at sea with thousands of passengers each. One has 4 deceased passengers on board. No country will clear them to dock at their ports. Many passengers were allowed to leave their quarantine early by the CDC if they weren’t showing symptoms. Now we know about asymptomatic spread. These people were eating lunch in airport terminals only to fall ill a few days later.
Edit: see my comment below for the harrowing story
JackAndy on March 28th, 2020 at 14:01 UTC »
I feel like no one read the article because he was literally dead before anyone knew he had Coronavirus. The title makes it sound like he had a diagnosis and was asked to quarantine himself by a doctor.
f03nix on March 28th, 2020 at 13:21 UTC »
[Updated, please read the edit]
The title isn't sufficient to get the complete info.
He came to India in the first week of march from Germany (via Italy). Since India issued travel advisory guidelines and quarantine to Italy (Germany wasn't in the list) on the 2nd of march, it's entirely possible that he wasn't even told to quarantine. The festival he attended in India was on 10th March, and he died on 19th. His death was ruled as heart failure so he had non-respiratory symptoms and he was tested posthumously as covid-19 positive only since he had travel history.
We do not have enough info to even know if he was being careless, let alone an intentional spreader. Among the list of people he transmitted to is his 2 year old grand kid, I don't think anyone would be careless about this if he was told about the possibility of this infection.
EDIT : Since I'm from Punjab, most of what I wrote is what the local news coverage told us and what I heard around. However, I am being informed by people living much closer that he did get respiratory symptoms, went to a private hospital who recommended him to get tested and ignored that advice and THEN went on to the festival. While this also could be a local rumor, but from this new bit of info - there's a chance this man may have been guilty of risking the lives of others after all.
Read this and this.