Maharashtra: 121 test negative for Covid-19 so far, reports of 4 awaited

The state health department said that 121 people have tested negative and test reports of four are awaited for possible exposure to novel coronavirus on Sunday. It said that so far as many as 61,939 travellers have been screened for the infection at the Mumbai international airport.

Mumbai: Of the 125 people quarantined in Maharashtra so far for possible exposure to novel coronavirus, 121 have tested negative and test reports of four are awaited on Sunday.

The state health department said that so far as many as 61,939 travellers have been screened for the infection at the Mumbai international airport.

Passengers arriving from 12 Covid-19 affected countries/regions- China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, Italy, Iran and Malaysia- are being screened at the Mumbai airport.

As many as 125 travellers who had arrived from Covid-19-affected areas were quarantined in hospitals across the state, but 121 of them tested negative for the virus as per the National Institute of Virology (NIV) reports, it said in a statement.

Those who are suspected to have contracted the deadly infection are sent to isolation facilities for treatment.

However, no case of coronavirus infection has come to light in the state so far, it added.

At present, seven persons have been quarantined- five in Mumbai and one each at Pune and Nashik. Reports of swab samples of four of these passengers were awaited from the NIV, it added.

According to officials, a man who was quarantined in Nashik for possible infection after his return from Italy, has tested negative.

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The man, who hails from Chandrapur district, had returned to India on February 26 from Italy, where he had gone for studies, an official said.

"He was quarantined as a precautionary measure as he showed symptoms of coronavirus. His samples were sent to Pune for testing. However, he was found negative for the infection," the official said.

The department said that all travellers from Wuhan city of China- the epicentre of the outbreak of epidemic- are being isolated and tested, irrespective of whether they show any symptoms or not.

Follow-up at home is conducted for the travellers from Covid-19-affected countries who do not show any symptoms during the screening at the airport.

"Till date, out of the 370 travellers, 241 have completed their follow-up of 14 days," the department said.

It said that there are 170 travellers, who have come to India from Iran after February 1. All of them have been advised home isolation for 14 days from their date of departure from Iran.

"Local health authorities will daily contact them for their health status. If any of them develop symptoms like fever, cough, cold will be admitted at identified isolation wards and will be tested for COVID-19," an officer said.

The department also appealed all such travellers from Iran are appealed to self report to local health authorities if for any reason they have yet not been contacted by local health authority.

The state COVID-19 control room number is 020-26127394, the department said in the statement.

(PTI REPORT)

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