Mumbai: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Maharashtra has risen to 14 with one patient each in Mumbai, Pune and Thane testing positive on Thursday.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said a 65-year-old man who had returned from Dubai had tested positive for coronavirus at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday, and his condition was somewhat critical.
There are now a total of three confirmed coronavirus cases in Mumbai. The first confirmed case, in Thane, reported on Thursday, is that of a patient who had travelled to France, Tope said.
It is understood that he was among 34 persons who had arrived from Dubai, Iran, France and Kuwait recently; of these, 12 are residents of Thane, Ulhasnagar and Ambernath. All of them are under observation for nearly 14 days and their blood samples have been sent to the lab for examination.
Meanwhile, according to Pune District collector Naval Kishore Ram, a man who had travel history to the United States has tested positive in Pune. He had arrived from the US on March 1, and his samples were taken on March 11.
There are now nine confirmed coronavirus cases in Pune, and the condition of all nine patients admitted at the civic-run Naidu Hospital is stable, Ram said.
On Wednesday, an elderly couple, who had returned from a trip to Dubai, had tested positive for the virus in Mumbai, and a 45-year old with a travel history to the US tested positive in Nagpur. Their condition was reported to be stable on Thursday.
According to Daksha Shah, deputy director, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) health department, those who had come in contact with the elderly couple in Mumbai have tested negative, but doctors will a keep tab on their health for the next 14 days.
"Those close to the two positive people have been contacted. They have been advised to stay at home in isolation," she said.
Three "close contacts" of the coronavirus patients were admitted to Kasturba Hospital, but their test results showed they had no infection. They will, however, be kept under observation, Shah said.
As part of a ‘contact tracing’ exercise after the senior citizen couple tested positive in Mumbai, three family members deemed ‘high risk contacts’ were quarantined at the Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday.
One of them had visited three households in their building in Andheri (West), and the members of these households have been kept at home in isolation.
Three teams of medical and para medical staff had also carried out a surveillance exercise to cover those living in 106 homes, who had been deemed ‘low risk contacts’, and no symptoms of the coronavirus was detected by the teams.
According to the BMC, as many as 1,96,762 travellers have been screened for symptoms of coronavirus at the Mumbai airport since January 18. Of them, a total of 190 symptomatic patients had been admitted to the isolation ward at Kasturba Hospital till Thursday.
Of these 190 patients, 168 had tested negative and two tested positive, while reports were awaited for 19 patients.
The number of beds at the isolation ward of Kasturba Hospital has been increased to 50 from 28, and another 50 beds will be added soon, Shah said.
Isolation wards have been kept ready at four hospitals in the suburbs. Another isolation facility with 300 beds is ready at the private Seven Hills hospital too, she added.
