Groom Infects over 100 Wedding Guests with COVID-19

Femi Ashekun/

Over 100 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in India, after attending a wedding in a village of Patna district on June 15.

According to India Express, the 30-year-old groom had developed COVID-19 symptoms before the wedding.

However, his family insisted on holding the wedding due to “huge financial losses” that would take place if the family cancelled and had him discharged from the hospital where he was admitted.

The groom eventually died two days after the wedding.

The newspaper said around 350 people attended the wedding, which is nearly seven times more than the limit of 50 people required by the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs.

No more than 50 guests are allowed at weddings – and 20 people at funerals – to limit the risk of spreading the virus.

The village has since been closed down as a containment zone by the authorities.

“So far 111 people who either attended the wedding or the funeral have tested positive,” said Raj Kishor Chaudhary. All others have been identified and isolated,” said the chief medical officer in Patna.

The newspaper notes that doctors are not certain the unnamed groom, an engineer, was the source of the infection, but Chaudhary said some 400 people who attended the wedding or funeral would be isolated following a spike in infections.

Indian authorities have also launched an investigation into possible violations of physical distancing regulations on the number of guests at both the wedding and funeral.

India with a population of 1.3 billion, remains hard-hit by COVID-19, with 585,441 cases — the fourth-highest worldwide — and more than 17,000 deaths, based on the Johns Hopkins dashboard. 

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