Coronavirus screening for 11 who returned from China; quarantine wards set up
As the world gears up to tackle the deadly coronavirus outbreak, as many as 11 people — seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each Bengaluru in Hyderabad — are under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly virus, which originated in China. The suspects are among hundreds of passengers who recently returned from China.
Officials in Kerala said another 73 people are being kept under medical surveillance at their homes in the State. Over 20,000 passengers returning from mainland China and Hong Kong underwent thermal screenings at the seven international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin.
In Mumbai, two Indian students, who returned from Wuhan, China, has been kept under observation for suspected infection of coronovirus. Also, on the basis of the details provided by the Indian Embassy in China, around 25 students who have returned to India recently from Wuhan are being closely monitored, the official said. Their details have been shared with district-level officers and they are being monitored closely for any symptoms.
In neighbouring Nepal, a student who came back from the same Chinese city has been found infected with the fast-spreading disease, sending panic across the globe.
India is on high alert and sources in the Union Health Ministry said the country may soon start screening all fliers from Nepal and Bhutan and those who travelled by road.
In Delhi, AIIMS too has set up an isolation ward and kept beds ready for providing treatment to any suspected case of coronavirus infection.
AIIMS director Randeep Guleria said, “We have an isolation ward and we have beds kept ready for providing care and treatment for suspected coronavirus cases in Delhi or elsewhere in India. All precautionary measures — in terms of personal protection equipment for healthcare workers to prevent the spread of the disease while treating infected patients — are in place.”
Guleria said hospital preparedness with regard to management and infection prevention control facilities has been also reviewed. “If need be, we have the capacity to increase our isolation ward facilities and provide treatment to such patients,” he added.
In Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has created an isolation ward at the Kasturba hospital. “The isolation ward has been created for diagnosis and treatment of persons suspected to have the virus infection,” said Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer of the BMC.
Keskar said the two persons under observation at the hospital have mild cough and exhibited cold-related symptoms. Doctors at the airport have been asked to send travellers returning from China to the isolation ward if they show any symptoms of the virus.
“All private doctors in the city have been asked to alert us if they observe symptoms of coronavirus in any person who has returned from China,” she added. According to Kasturba Hospital sources, they have received detailed instructions from the Maharashtra Government about how to deal with coronavirus infection.
As on January, 24, 2020, nearly 20,844 passengers from 96 flights have been screened for the virus symptoms while health advisory has been extended to 12 more airports-Ahmadabad, Amritsar, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Gaya, Jaipur, Bagdogra, Lucknow, Trivandrum, Trichy, Varanasi and Vizag in addition to the current seven, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had already alerted Nepal about the possible risk of the spread of the virus. “Coronavirus is responsible for the outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, so the movement of people between Nepal and China could spread the deadly virus to Nepal,” said the WHO recently.
In China, around 830 were diagnosed with coronavirus and there had been 26 deaths as of now.
However, the global health agency has decided not to declare the outbreak as an international public health emergency. The outbreak is “an emergency in China”, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a Press conference in Geneva. “But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.”
India on its part is already on high alert and has taken several precautionary measures to prevent the possible risk of transmission of the virus in the country. National Institute of Virology, Pune is fully geared up to test samples of the virus. Ten other laboratories under Indian Council of Medical Research’s Viral Research and Diagnostics Laboratories network are also equipped to test such samples, if a need arises, said a senior official from the Health Ministry. States and hospitals have been asked to set up insolated wards and be ready for emergency, if any.
Guleria suggested that as a precautionary measure, people should maintain good standards of hand hygiene, avoid travelling in crowded places and use masks. Any person having slight symptoms of cough, fever and weakness should immediately report to the nearest health facilities, he said.
“ As of now, there is no definite treatment, antibiotics or vaccines available for combating the particular virus strain and only supportive treatment for pneumonia is given. One has to follow preventive medication strategies,” he said..
Coronavirus are a broad range of viruses that can cause infections ranging from mild upper-respiratory tract illnesses like common cold to much more serious diseases like SARS. The virus can spread from human to human and from animals to humans.
