Suspected coronavirus cases reported from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai

Mumbai/Bengaluru/Kolkata, January 27

Even as the Centre has stepped up vigil in districts bordering Nepal in view of a confirmed case of novel coronavirus detected there, suspected cases have surfaced in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Jaipur and Mumbai.

Three suspected cases of coronavirus infection have been identified and all were admitted to the Fever Hospital in Nallakunta in Hyderabad.

As part of preventive steps in the backdrop of coronavirus outbreak in China, two Bengaluru residents who returned from the neighbouring country about 10 days ago have been kept under medical supervision at a hospital, the Karnataka Health Department said.

Another person who was admitted for medical supervision three days ago had been discharged after he tested negative for the deadly virus, which has claimed 80 lives with 2,744 confirmed cases in China so far, the department added.

Besides these cases, six passengers — four Chinese and two Indians—are under 28-day house quarantine and they are asymptomatic, a statement from the department said.

In Kolkata, a Chinese national, suspected to be suffering from coronavirus, has been admitted in the state-run Infectious Diseases Hospital.

She has been kept at the isolation ward.

A state Health Department team examined 28-year-old Hu Mai. Later, Director of Health Education, Debsish Bhattacharya said she was stable.

It is learnt that Hu Mai had left China six months back, and visited Namibia, Madagascar and Mauritius before reaching India on Janaury 24.

However, Kolkata Municipal Corporation authorities claimed the doctors have not seen any symptom of coronavirus in the patient.

“She got panic-stricken. Our doctors monitored her condition through the night on Sunday. They examined her yet again on Monday. The doctors say she doesn’t have any classical symptom of coronavirus,” said KMC Mayor-in-Council member Swapan Samaddar.

In the fourth such incident in Mumbai, a 36-year-old man has been admitted in the isolation ward of a civic-run hospital on suspicion of possible exposure to the novel coronavirus, officials said on Monday.

The man, a resident of Tardeo in south Mumbai, is currently kept under observation at Kasturba Hospital in the city, they said.

Three persons were last week admitted in the hospital for possible exposure to the virus strain, after screening of passengers was done at the Mumbai international airport.

All the three were hospitalised as precaution, officials had said on January 25.

In Jaipur, an MBBS student, who came from China recently was admitted to an isolation ward of the SMS hospital on suspicion of coronavirus infection after he complained of fever, cold and cough.

Hailing from Jaipur’s Sanganer sub-urban town, the 21-year-old boy was admitted to hospital late Sunday night.

A sample of his sputum is being sent to Pune’s virology lab for diagnosis.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has urged passengers who have a travel history to China since January 1 this year to report to their nearest health facility if they experience any symptoms such as fever, cough and respiratory distress.

The Airport Health Organisation, which is on the alert ever since the outbreak of the virus in China, said on Monday that none of the passengers who came from that country in the last 14 days were found to have contracted the disease.

The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before. —TNS/Agencies