Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur, Apr 28: A person of Nagamangala, Mandya origin, who came from Mumbai in a goods vehicle is found to have been infected with coronavirus. As it is found that during the travel, he had taken bath at a petrol bunk at Tekkatte in the taluk, the petrol bunk in question has been sealed down. Six staff members manning the tollgate and six employees and owner of the petrol bunk have been quarantined, said assistant superintendent of police Hariram Shankar.
The man had travelled by a truck carrying dates from Mumbai without authorization. During the questioning at Mandya, he had revealed that he had taken bath during the said journey at a petrol bunk located on the left side of the highway on the coast between Shirur and Sastam tollgates. This information was conveyed by Mandya district administration by Monday evening. On the basis of this information, taluk health officer Dr Nagabhushan, and Kota police sub-inspector Nityananda Gowda, led teams which visited all the petrol bunks and verified CCTV footage. The footage revealed that the Mandya man had taken bath during late night hours on Monday at the petrol bunk located in Tekkatte. The petrol bunk was immediately sealed down. The prospects of sealing down areas located in a three kilometres radius from the petrol bunk are under active consideration, sources said.
Screengrabs from CCTV footage
Tekkatte petrol bunk
The development has given rise to a new worry for Udupi district which was hoping to retain the green zone tag it had acquired after going without any fresh coronavirus positive cases since the last 28 days. The district, which had gone back to green zone, is facing the prospects of being treated as orange zone because of this stray incident.
The man had illegally travelled by a canter truck to Nagamangala from Mumbai. He was a hotel worker and had travelled from Mumbai on April 20 by a truck carrying a load of dates. He had reached Nagamangala on April 22. He was tested for the presence of COVID-19 virus on April 24 and he was found to be having the infection. The district administration may take legal steps against him as he had travelled by overlooking lockdown rules, it is said.