In Hoshiarpur village with 140 houses, kidney patient on deathbed became unsuspecting Covid carrier

HOSHIARPUR: A kidney failure patient who tested positive for Covid-19 after his death on May 18 became the unsuspecting carrier of the coronavirus infection in Nangli, a small village in Hoshiarpur district with just 140 houses which accounted for eight of 38 new cases in Punjab on Monday.


Of the 128 cases reported so far in Hoshiarpur, 26 are from Nangli.

Deceased Lakhwinder Singh had suffered kidney failure in the third week of March, when the lockdown had been just imposed.

Three of his relatives in nearby Purike village have also tested positive. In the case of Nangli, all patients had come in contact with Lakhwinder at one point or another. While eight patients are from his family, the rest are locals. As no one knew he was infected, the virus spread.

Lakhwinder was a mason. When diagnosed with kidney failure, Lakhwinder was initially sent to Government Medical College, Amritsar, but he returned as he had neither informed his family nor he had money. “His sister and brother advised him to go to a kidney hospital in Jalandhar where he remained admitted for a few weeks and then returned to his home where he stayed for a few days and villagers also visited him. Then his condition started deteriorating and he was again rushed to hospital where he died in a couple of days. It was after his death that his sample was taken and his was released a day later, after the report came,” said a village resident.

After the death, villagers also visited his home to condole his death. A woman, who owns a small shop and would visit the family often as she was related, also tested positive and later her family members were found infected. In fact, the driver of the car in which Lakhwinder went to Jalandhar and his kin also tested positive. “We have 106 persons from the village and have taken 61 samples more. All patients are asymptomatic and have been kept at the Covid care centre,” Tanda community health centre senior medical officer Dr K R Bali said.

He also that from Nangli, nine villages around it had been included in the containment zone and restrictions had been put in place]. “We will be taking out a survey in the neighbouring villages also,” Dr Bali said.