Hyderabad's biz community in fright after sweet shop owner dies of Covid

Hyderabad: The business community of Hyderabad is in a great big fright since a fellow member of the community, owner of a famous chain of sweet shops across Hyderabad, died Thursday night. He had been among those who attended a glitzy social event at a Hyderabad hotel last month which left hundreds of members of the business community infected with COVID-19.

Over 300 members of this particular community have tested positive for the virus after attending lavish weddings, engagements and birthday parties last month.

A jeweller from the Old City of Hyderabad died while undergoing treatment in a private hospital on Thursday. It  was not clear whether he too died of Covid-19 and whether he had been among those who attended events recently.

According to sources, the owner of a chain of sweet shops attended an engagement ceremony held at a four-star hotel in Abids last month. The businessman in his late 60s was closely related to the family that organised the event.

Social distancing norms were disregarded at this lavish event which had over 300 guests. A majority of the guests turned up without face masks. Several of those who attended the event are undergoing treatment in different hospitals or are in home quarantine.

The first sweet shop set up by this man's family is in Gulzar Houz, after which they opened another store on the Banjara Hills-Masab Tank road. They now have shops at nine locations while their close relatives run a chain of supermarkets.

Five jewellers have died in the past few days after having contracted the COVID virus at such social events. The business community has ended up as one of the biggest Covid-19 victims in Hyderabad. However, many families are claiming that the deaths were due to reasons other than COVID19 to avoid embarrassment.