National News
Andheri couple tests positive; are city’s first confirmed case: Coronavirus in Mumbai:
Amid the rapid spread of the disease in other countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
An elderly couple from Andheri has become the first to test positive for the novel coronavirus in Mumbai on Wednesday, taking the number of confirmed cases in the city to two and the state to 11.
The 70-year-old man and his 68-year-old wife – both residents of Andheri (West) – had travelled to Dubai and come in close contact with the Pune couple who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
The Mumbai couple have been quarantined in the isolation ward of Kasturba Hospital and their condition is stable, BMC officials said.Although the couple isn’t exhibiting severe symptoms, their swab samples have been sent to the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) for reconfirmation.Four other persons from the city who were also a part of the same group – including another couple and a mother-daughter duo – were also tested, but their results were negative.
They were discharged from the hospital yesterday evening. Civic officials, however, have decided to keep a check on them via phone for the next 14 days.All six were part of the 40 member group who had travelled to Dubai. Of them, nine have tested positive for coronavirus so far.
A statement by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme of the Public Health Department, Maharashtra said an “aggressive contact tracing activity” is in progress on a war footing after two Dubai returnees from Pune were found positive for coronavirus.“On Wednesday, two close contacts of these persons from Mumbai were found positive. Both are co-passengers of the index cases and part of the Dubai tour troup,” it said.
Per the new guidelines from the central government, travelers coming from all countries are being screened at international airports.“Till Wednesday, 1,38,968 travelers from 1195 flights have been screened at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur international airports as per the new guidelines from central government,” the statement said.
“All international travelers are being screened at airports and all symptomatic travelers are referred to identified isolation wards. Asymptomatic travelers coming from 12 countries (China, Honkong, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Iran and Italy) are being referred to IDSP for regular follow up for 14 days,” it added.
Apart from the Mumbai couple, eight have tested positive in Pune and one in Nagpur – taking the total number of COVID-19 patients in Maharashtra to 11.Meanwhile, at least ten others have been admitted to Kasturba Hospital on suspicion of being infected.“Most people came on their own or were referred by private doctors to undergo the test,” additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani was quoted as saying.
Since the outbreak in December, more than 120,000 people have been infected by the virus across the globe. Amid the rapid spread of the disease in other countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
