With six more people testing positive for novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the number of cases in Maharashtra went up to 11 on Wednesday. Five people — including a senior couple aged 70 and 68 from Mumbai, and three from Pune district — were part of a 40-member group who travelled to Dubai, along with the Pune couple who were the first positive patients in the State. The sixth person is from Nagpur, with a travel history to the U.S.
Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr. Deepak Mhaisekar said, “We have sent a few more samples for testing at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) whose results are expected soon.”
In Mumbai, additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said six people from the group were isolated in Kasturba Hospital. “While four tested negative, two tested positive. Since the tests were carried out at the in house laboratory at Kasturba, the samples have been sent to National Institute of Virology for re-confirmation,” he said, and added, “both are on symptomatic treatment but we have kept ventilators ready in case they develop any respiratory distress.”
The group of 40 had returned to India on March 1. Civic officials are in the process of tracing contacts of the elderly couple to contain the spread of the virus. State health officials said that contact tracing was started aggressively as soon as the Pune couple tested positive. After landing in Mumbai, the group had dispersed to their residences in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Yavatmal, Ahmednagar, Beed and Nagpur.
Mr. Kakani said four others from the group who tested negative were discharged on Wednesday evening.
(With inputs from Shoumojit Banerjee)
