Jaipur: A suspected case of coronavirus has been reported in Rajasthan, following which the patient has been kept in isolation, state Health Minister Raghu Sharma said on Sunday.
He said a doctor, who returned to India after completing the MBBS course in China, was kept in isolation at the SMS Hospital here on the suspicion of being affected by coronavirus.
Directions were given to conduct a screening of all the family members of the patient, he added.
In an official statement, the minister said a blood sample of the patient was sent to the National Virology Laboratory in Pune.
He added that a total of 18 people from four districts of the state had returned to the country from China and the respective district chiefs and medical officers were directed to keep them under surveillance for 28 days.
Sharma also urged the Union health minister to make the screening facility available at the international terminals of various airports in the country.
On Sunday, three people who were admitted to Kasturba hospital for possible exposure to coronavirus had been tested negative for the infection.
All three patients were admitted to the isolation ward of Kasturba hospital on Thursday and Friday after they had returned from China and Hong Kong. Their samples were sent to the NIV for testing who later declared them as safe.
However, the hospital has kept them under observation and will discharge them after the state and union government formulate the discharge policy.
With inputs from PTI
