Two more patients — a 49-year-old man from Mumbai and a 32- year-old man from Nanded — suspected of exposure to the novel Coronavirus (nCoV) infection, were quarantined in the State on Tuesday. State health officials said that samples of both the patients have been sent to the National Institute of Virology for testing.
The Mumbai patient, a businessman from Juhu had travelled to Wuhan, the epicentre of nCoV outbreak, for a work trip on January 14 and returned to Mumbai on January 21. According to doctors, he developed symptoms like cough and fever from January 24. He is the fifth patient quarantined at Mumbai’s civic-run Kasturba Hospital. While four patients admitted earlier have tested negative, reports of their repeat samples are awaited.
The Nanded patient has been quarantined at the Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital. Doctors said his condition is stable and he has been placed under isolation because he developed symptoms after returning from China.
As many as 3,997 travellers have been screened at the Mumbai airport of whom 18 travellers were from Maharashtra. While the rest are being followed up on telephone, in all five have been quarantined in Mumbai, two in Pune and one in Nanded. State health officials said they would follow up on all travellers from the State for up to 28 days. Those who develop symptoms like cough, cold and fever should immediately report to the hospital.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses with some causing less severe ailments, such as the common cold, and others more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The World Health Organization was first alerted about a cluster of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China on 31 December 2019. The situation report released by the WHO on Monday confirmed 2,798 cases globally of which 2,741 were in China. Eighty deaths have been confirmed so far.
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