The family members of Telangana's first Coronavirus infected 24-year-old software engineer has been kept under observation and also on the staff of a private hospital who earlier attended on him. The man, who works in Bengaluru tested positive for COVID-19 in Hyderabad.
"All the members in the house where he (the software engineer) had stayed here have been identified and are under watch," Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu tweeted late Monday night.
The techie, who works in Bengaluru, had worked with people from Hong Kong in Dubai last month where he is suspected to have contracted the virus, Telangana Health Minister E Rajender said. The man reached Bengaluru on February 19 or 20 and later went to Hyderabad by bus.
After reaching Hyderabad by bus, he approached a private hospital with fever and flu-like symptoms. He continued his treatment as an outpatient for five days and was subsequently admitted there. As there was no improvement in his condition, he came to Gandhi Hospital on March 1. His condition is stated to be stable.
About 80 people are believed to have come into contact with the techie since his return. These include his eight family members, 42 staffers at the private hospital including doctors, paramedical staffers and front office personnel and 27 bus passengers.
The family members of the techie were brought to Gandhi Hospital and kept in isolation ward. The staffers at the private hospitals were also advised to undergo all tests.
The man is among the two new cases of the deadly virus that has infected more than 88,000 people across the globe and killed over 3,000. The second coronavirus case is of a person in Delhi, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.
A ministerial committee is holding a meeting with top officials on Tuesday to discuss measures to create awareness among people and check possible spread of the virus.
The health minister said isolation wards with 40 beds each were set up at Gandhi Hospital, Chest Hospital and Fever hospital for treatment of suspected coronavirus cases.
The minister pointed out that India has not yet reported any case of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. He said all positive cases and suspected cases were those who came from China, Hong Kong, Italy and other countries.
Officials said as many as 17,662 passengers were screened at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here till March 2.
A total of 380 suspected cases were referred to the designated hospitals. Samples were taken from 111 of them and barring one all tested negative for COVID-19.
Also Read: Noida School Shut Over Coronavirus Fears | Live Updates
Latest India News
