Pune: Even as the number of coronavirus cases in the State mounted to 52, with four new cases being reported, a group of 115 passengers from Dubai -- the first batch among several more that are expected to return from the United Arab Emirates soon -- landed in Pune on Friday morning.
They were immediately ferried to a quarantine facility built in Baburao Sanas Sports Ground of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Dr Pradeep Awate, head and director of the epidemiology department, Maharashtra, said, “Over 160 to 200 people can be quarantined in the ground.
We are shifting travellers immediately to such a large facility because home isolations, most of the times, are not strictly adhered to. Hence this step.”
The passengers arrived on Spice Jet flight number SG 52 at 4:04 am. According to Awate, who is the state’s disease surveillance officer, one of the passengers had complained of cough and cold, and was taken to Naidu Hospital of Infectious Diseases immediately.
Five new coronavirus cases were reported in the state on Friday, including two in Mumbai.
A 62-year-old man from Malabar Hill, who had returned to the city from London and was admitted to Kasturba Hospital on March 18, has tested positive. He is also suffering from diabetes and undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.
A 38-year old man from Mumbai’s F-North ward, who had returned from Turkey and was admitted to hospital on March 18, has also tested positive for COVID-19.
The other new coronavirus cases reported on Friday were that of a 53-year-old man from Kalyan who had returned from Dubai and was admitted in a hospital on March 19, and a 20-year-old man from Pune with travel history to Scotland.
The new cases reported also include a 24-year-old man from Pimpri-Chinchwad, whose 22-year-old brother tested positive for coronavirus on March 18 after he had returned from the Philippines and Singapore.
