Man's wedding, then funeral, leaves over 100 infected with coronavirus
NEW DELHI: More than 100 people have tested positive for coronavirus in India after attending a wedding, and then the funeral of the groom, who reportedly tied the knot while ill with the disease.
Officials in Bihar state said yesterday the 26-year-old groom had symptoms of the deadly virus when he got married on June 15.
He died two days later.
"So far, 111 people who attended either the wedding or the funeral have tested positive," said state chief medical officer Raj Kishor Chaudhary .
"All others have been identified and isolated."
Doctors are not certain if the unnamed groom was the main source of the infection as he was cremated before tests could be carried out.
But Mr Chaudhary said around 400 people who attended the wedding or funeral would be isolated.
The groom, a software engineer who returned home from near New Delhi only a week before the wedding, had shown symptoms before the nuptials.
He was briefly admitted to hospital, but his family had him discharged and hosted the wedding with more than 300 guests.
He died at his home two days later, with nearly 200 people attending the funeral. Some had attended both.
None of the groom's relatives - including his bride - tested positive, officials said.
The authorities have launched an investigation into possible violations of social distancing regulations on the number of guests at both the wedding and funeral.
The epidemic is raging across the South Asian country of 1.3 billion people, with almost 600,000 infections and 17,000 deaths reported so far.
Bihar, one of the country's poorest regions and home to 120 million people, has recorded nearly 10,000 cases, with 62 deaths. - AFP
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