Three persons from the Union Territory, including two students pursuing medicine in China, who reported a travel history to China recently have been kept under home quarantine as a precautionary measure said Director of Medical and Health Services, S. Mohan Kumar.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Dr. Mohan Kumar said that a businessman from Karaikal and two students from Puducherry and Karaikal pursuing medicine in China had returned to India recently. Though none of them are symptomatic, they have been kept under home quarantine as a precautionary measure. The trio will be under the supervision of surveillance officers for 28 days.
Dr. Kumar said that all precautions were being taken to improve surveillance and to quarantine people with a travel history to China. The Health Department has asked all government hospitals in Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam and private medical colleges to set aside six beds, exclusively for any potential Novel Corona Virus (nCOV) cases.
An isolation ward with eight beds has been set up at the Government Hospital for Chest Diseases in Gorimedu. All private hospitals and medical colleges have been asked to send travellers returning from China with upper respiratory tract infections to the isolation ward.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also conducted an orientation programme on the virus for doctors and shared standard guidelines and treatment protocol to be followed. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) has been identified as a tertiary care centre for patients who need additional care. The samples of suspected patients will be collected at Jipmer and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, he added.
