A 35-year old man from Kolkata’s Ganguly Bagan was admitted to Beliaghata ID Hospital on Monday morning to test for Coronavirus. Another person from Naihati, from the northern fringes of Kolkata, has been asked by officials of the West Bengal government’s health department to get admitted to the hospital immediately. Both were co-passengers with a nurse from Kerala who was identified as the first confirmed case of Coronavirus in India. Two more were in the same flight and have been kept under observation too. Another person was said to have left for Delhi, and the government has been informed by officials from Kolkata accordingly.
State health department officials said they took the step on an urgent basis based on instructions from the Union Health Ministry. The Ministry has asked the state to take strict measures in handling the cases of suspected Coronavirus infections as many could be silent carriers. This means that the symptoms in those infected with the virus may be found after they have transmitted it to others.
Screening camps have also been set up at several places along the India-Bangladesh border by the Centre. The suspected patients need to be kept under observation for at least 14 days as the symptoms of this virus are expressed late, experts say. In early stages, this virus is hard to detect as the early signs of this infection are quite similar to those from common viruses. The symptoms may include diarrhoea with fever, cough and common cold.
Last week, a Chinese national admitted to the Beliaghata ID Hospital after being suspected of being affected by Coronavirus. However, the ID Hospital was told later by the Institute of Virology in Pune that it was ruled out.
An isolation ward has been created to treat the patients with Coronavirus symptoms at the Beliaghata ID Hospital. Health department authorities have said that they are fully equipped to treat cases with this infection.
Two persons in India have so far tested positive for Coronavirus in India. Both cases are in Kerala. The second patient too has been kept in isolation though the condition was stated to be stable.
The first positive case of Coronavirus was confirmed from India on January 30, of a student from Wuhan University, a resident of Thrissur.
Till now, 304 deaths have been reported from China from the virus and over 14,000 have been infected. It has spread to over 20 countries, including India. A special Air India flight with 330 passengers (323 Indians and seven from the Maldives) landed in Delhi from Wuhan on Sunday. Earlier, the first flight, with 324 Indians reached Delhi on Saturday.
All the major airports in India have been directed by the Civil Aviation Ministry to screen flyers who are arriving from China to check the spread of Corona virus. The international airports of Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Cochin, Delhi and Mumbai were among the first to be alerted.
Airport authorities have been asking arriving passengers from China if they have symptoms of common cold and fever or have visited the Wuhan City in China – where the disease first broke out – in the past two weeks. Such passengers are being asked to fill up a form making these declarations.
Coronavirus (CoV) is a large family of viruses which cause illnesses ranging from common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Comments are closed.