Indian groom’s wedding,funeral make hundreds of people infected with Covid-19

Hundreds of people tested positive for the novel virus after attending a wedding and then a funeral in India of the groom, who reportedly got married while sick with the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, the official in Bihar said the 26-year-old groom already had symptoms of the virus when he tied the knot on June 15.

The groom died two days later from his wedding.

Chief Medical Officer Raj Kishor Chaudhry in Patna said,

“So far 111 people who either attended the wedding or the funeral have tested positive. All others have been identified and isolated.”

The doctors of the state are not sure whether the groom was the source of the infection as he was cremated before any test could be carried out.

But Chaudhary said around 400 people would be isolated who attended the wedding or funeral after a spurt of infections.

The groom, a software engineer who just a week before the wedding had shown symptoms before the nuptials returned home from near New Delhi.

He was admitted to the hospital for a brief time, but his family had him released and arranged the wedding with more than 300 guests.

Two days later he died at his home, with nearly 200 people attending the funeral. Others had engaged in both.

None of the relatives of the groom — including his bride — had been found positive, officials said.

Officials have opened an investigation into alleged wedding and funeral breaches of social distancing laws on the number of guests.

At India’s famously lavish and colorful weddings – and only 20 people at funerals – no more than 50 guests are allowed to limit the risk of coronavirus spreading.

With nearly 600,000 infections and 17,000 deaths recorded so far, the epidemic is raging across the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people.

Bihar, one of the poorest regions in the country and home to 120 million people, reported nearly 10,000 cases, with 62 deaths.

Experts claim that a lack of research conceals the true statistics, and the national toll is far higher than recorded.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has relaxed restrictions on the lockout following an increase in cases.

But on Tuesday Modi warned the  Indian nation to be more cautious.

“We have become lackadaisical. I again want you all to observe precautions in the same way as under lockdown.”