A groom died two days after his wedding in eastern India after becoming infected with coronavirus, with 80 people linked to the ceremony testing positive for Covid-19.
A total of 400 guests were tested after the wedding, which took place two weeks ago in Paliganj, in the state of Bihar, said Kishore Chaudhary, the chief medical officer in Patna.
Those who tested positive have been taken to a local treatment center, Chaudhary told CNN on Thursday.
The groom was sick before the wedding on June 15, according to Surendra Kumar, district official in Paliganj, and his condition was worsening.
He had traveled from Gurgaon, in the northern state of Haryana, for the wedding, Kumar told CNN. The distance between the two cities is more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) by road.
The family took him to a local doctor where he was given medicine, but the doctor did not flag his symptoms to the district authorities and he was not tested for coronavirus, said Kumar. “The family did not tell anyone about his poor health,” he said.
The man’s condition deteriorated after the wedding and the family took him to a nearby hospital, but he collapsed on the way and was declared dead on arrival, added Kumar.
Investigations to determine how many people attended the wedding, and trace their contacts, are ongoing, said Kumar.
“The 80 people who have tested positive did not all essentially go to the wedding,” he said. “Some of them came in contact with the invitees and contracted the virus.”
There have been 10,249 coronavirus cases in Bihar state and 70 deaths, according to India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
India has recorded 604,641 cases of coronavirus and 17,834 deaths, according to the ministry.
At the weekend, the government opened one of the largest hospitals in the world to help fight coronavirus, after health authorities announced the country’s biggest one-day increase in the number of new infections.
The Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre in New Delhi is the largest facility of its kind in India, with 10,000 beds.
