Two containment zones were set up in Bokaro city on Friday after a man and woman with travel history tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 48 hours, the first instance of the virus making its way into the steel township.
While a 28-year-old woman, who arrived from Delhi, tested positive in the Sector-9 area on Thursday, a 40-year-old man, who came from Mumbai, and has been living in Hanuman Nagar in Camp-2 ever since, tested positive on Friday.
The Bokaro city administration has declared two separate containment zones with the homes of the two as centres at Sector-9. Both the man and woman have been shifted to the Covid ward of Bokaro General Hospital (BGH) where seven patients, including a four-year-old girl, are undergoing treatment.
Fortunately, all nine active cases are asymptomatic and they are stable. Sources said doctors at BGH were providing vitamin C and B-complex, apart from a balanced healthy diet, to the patients.
A health official said that they had already started a contact tracing exercise for both the patients. The woman arrived in Bokaro on June 15 from Delhi and was in home quarantine. Her parents have been sent on institutional quarantine and the residential block where the family stays is being sealed and declared a containment zone.
There are 15 families living in the block and their movement has been restricted. Entry to and exit from the block has been banned for outsiders. Civil surgeon Dr A.K. Pathak said all the families would be tested if they had come in contact with the woman.
The man who tested in Hanuman Nagar is a migrant worker. The son of a barber, he reached Bokaro on June 14 from Mumbai. He was in home quarantine. Now, his family members have been put on institutional quarantine.
Till date Bokaro district has recorded 38 coronavirus positive cases of which nine are active. As many as 27 people have recovered. But elderly persons died in BGH.
District administration has appealed to residents to follow social distancing norms, wear masks and wash their hands with soap at regular intervals. Officials maintained there was no need to panic as the situation in the district was under control.
