The Medical and Health Department officers in Anantapur are taking necessary precautionary measures, following an alert sounded by the health ministry both at the Centre and the State level on the spread of the deadly Novel Coronavirus (nCoV). However, there was nothing to feel scared about the situation as they would only be increasing vigil as part of preventive measures, they said.
“One case of a student travelling from China to Visakhapatnam has been recorded and he has been kept under observation by following all laid down procedures. His nasal and throat swabs have been sent to the immunology laboratory in Pune,” DM&HO K.V.N.S. Anil Kumar told The Hindu. Confirmation comes only after 14 days as the symptoms of the nCoV might appear within two days or after 14 days of exposure, he observed. As of now there is no testing facility in Andhra Pradesh, he said.
Respiratory problem
It was an upper respiratory system problem and the symptoms were similar to other viral infections of the respiratory tract, hence if any person with persistent fever, cough and shortness of breath was found, he or she should be referred to the GGH. However, the first criterion for suspicion was primary travel from infected regions of the world.
All suspicious cases with travel record from China, or getting in contact with confirmed nCoV patients would be monitored by taking the throat and nasal swabs and symptomatically managing the manifestations, Dr. Kumar said. As of now only airports and seaports were the compulsory screening points.
For Anantapur district a suspected case had to come from either Hyderabad, Bengaluru or Mumbai airports, where they anyway get screened at the first point of contact as per the national health ministry norms if they are travelling from the regions that have suspected/confirmed cases of nCoV, he added.
