Mumbai: In the fourth case of suspected coronavirus, a 36-year-old man, who is resident of Tardeo, was admitted in the isolation ward of civic-run Kasturba Hospital on Sunday. According to health officials, of the four patients are under observation, three have tested negative. The test reports of fourth patient are expected on Tuesday.
As per the public health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on January 3, the man had travelled to China. While returning to Mumbai, he took a flight from Hong Kong on Janaury 11. But during his stay in China, he had visited Shanghai, and Guangzhou, which is almost 1,000-km away from Wuhan city. Wuhan has reported the highest number of coronavirus cases in China.
“He did not show any symptoms but health observers are constantly taking his update on phone. It was learnt that for the first five days he complained of cough with sputum, but on Sunday night, he complained of fever similar to symptoms of the coronavirus. On the basis of that he was immediately rushed to the hospital for further treatment,” said Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer, BMC.
The patient has been quarantined as a precautionary measure and his blood samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) for testing. “Currently, we have four patients under observation, of which three tested negative last week. But all of them will be discharged only after we get the reports in our hand, and those reports will be submitted to the central health department for their observation,” Dr Keskar added.
Dr Archana Patil, additional director of health services, State Family Welfare Bureau, said that the blood samples of all four patients quarantined at Kasturba Hospital will be sent to the NIV for test one more time. “For a confirmatory test, the blood samples will be sent to NIV once again and until that time they will be under observation,” she said.
The state and Union governments are formulating the discharge policy. “We are in talks with the experts from the central government in formulating a discharge policy for the suspected patients suffering from the new strain of coronavirus,” she said.
Meanwhile, three other people who reached the city on Sunday from China are under observation through telephonic follow-up. “Our health officials would follow up with them to check if they develop any symptoms of coronavirus. This is done as a precautionary measure,” Dr Patil added.
In the meantime, BMC has formed an expert team consisting of epidemiologists, microbiologists, medicine and chest specialists who would be stationed at Kasturba Hospital to deal with emergency or outbreak of coronavirus.
As of January 26, some 3,756 passengers had undergone thermal screening at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, of which 15 are from Maharashtra. Fortunatley, no case of coronavirus infection has been found yet.
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. It has killed 26 people so far, and has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
