Blood samples and throat swabs from 12 persons, including eight Chinese nationals, who are under observation at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), have tested negative for the novel coronavirus (nCov), Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said on Monday.
The samples were tested at the King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Guindy, he added.
“These samples were taken from the Chinese nationals and four other patients, including a student, who had returned from Wuhan (A city in China where the outbreak began). The student had travelled with another from Kerala, who has tested positive for nCoV. We have also lifted a blood sample from another student from Tamil Nadu who had travelled with them and is under home quarantine,” the Minister said while addressing the media.
He added that the authorities were waiting for the test results of four samples sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. “Today, as per the instruction of the advisory committee of the Centre, we lifted four more samples and sent them for testing to the King Institute. As per the guidelines, we should take samples even if the person does not have symptoms of fever, cough and breathlessness but has a travel history to the affected countries,” Dr. Vijayabaskar said.
The testing facility at King Institute can process 60 samples a day, he said.
As of date, the airports in Chennai, Tiruchi, Madurai and Coimbatore had screened a total of 7,842 travellers. Of them, 1,150 passengers, including 878 who returned from China, had been under home quarantine for 28 days. In Chennai alone, 319 persons were under home quarantine. The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine had the phone numbers of these persons and was constantly monitoring them, the Minister said. While 10 persons, including Chinese nationals, who exhibited symptoms during screening at the airport, and seven contacts were admitted to the isolation ward of RGGGH for observation, three more were under observation at the government medical college hospitals in Tiruchi, Ramanathapuram and Villupuram, he added.
Mr. Vijayabaskar said the Chinese nationals, who continue to be under observation, may be advised to prepone their return trip.
Students from T.N.
Last week, India evacuated many students from China. “As many as 53 of them were from Tamil Nadu. They are in Delhi now, and are under quarantine. We are in regular contact with the officials in Delhi,” the Minister said.
He said isolation wards had been set up in all government medical colleges. The bed strength at the isolation ward of RGGGH had been increased from six to 12. “Today, we held meetings with all District Collectors on the preparedness measures. We also held meetings with secretaries of Higher Education and School Education, and asked them to spread awareness on hand-washing and personal hygiene in schools and colleges,” he added.
