A 68-year-old woman, who had come to the clinic of a prominent doctor of the town to get her appendix removed, was tested positive for Covid-19 despite having no travel history.

At the clinic, Dr A.P. Singh asked the woman, a resident of Dumraon panchayat of Ichak block, nearly 25km from the district headquarters, for a coronavirus test before the surgery.

On Thursday, her report came positive though neither she nor any of her family members have a travel history.

While she was sent to Hazaribagh Medical College and Hospital in town for treatment, all 17 members of her family were sent to a government quarantine centre on Friday evening

The family includes six women, and a nine-year-old boy.

Their samples have been sent for a swab test.

Health department officials didn’t rule out the possibility that she was infected by her daughter-in-law, who is a mukhiya (chief) here.

The mukhiya had been entrusted with the responsibility of keeping an eye on the arrival of migrant workers returning to their areas. She also had to register their information and send the workers to quarantine centres.

The husband of the mukhiya said, “Many people returned to our village, including elderly persons. It is possible that my wife might have got infected while touching their feet to get their blessings.”

Officials said they were awaiting the reports of the family members.

As one of the family members worked at Vinoba Bhave University, a drive was begun to sanitise the campus as well.

The registrar of the university, Banshidhar Rukhaiyar, said on Saturday that online classes were on but once all colleges reopened after August 15, they would organise special classes to compensate for the loss. The exams will be organised in September.

A 55-year-old resident of Bariyath, who had returned from Mumbai, also tested positive in Ichak on Thursday.

He was in home quarantine.

Local residents said till the detection of these two cases, Ichak was free from corona, and vowed to be extra cautious.