Bengaluru, Jun 10 (IANS): A 22-year-old Mumbai resident, studying medicine in Pune, has turned out to be the first Covid-19 case in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka.

"This youth, a resident of Mumbai, had come to drop his mother at a relatives place," a health official told IANS on Wednesday.

According to the official, the student brought his mother, a diabetic, to the district thinking it would be safer to keep her in a green zone than Covid-19 hotspot Mumbai. "They took a train to Bengaluru and drove to the district from there, along with his uncle who came to pick them up," he said.

They had arrived on Friday and reached the district in the night. On Saturday, his mother was tested negative for coronavirus.

On Sunday morning, the youth complained of diarrhoea. "In the initial tests, there were some symptoms. It got confirmed on testing him for coronavirus. He was quarantined," said the official.

Currently, he is being observed in the ICU. "The student didn't come in contact with anybody from the district except his uncle, his lone primary contact," the official said.

The district health department has sanitized the place where he spent his time.

Chamarajanagar people are proactive in reporting to the district authorities any new visitors. As many as 70 people are quarantined in the district.

With the first Covid-19 case, the district's status has changed to orange zone.