Three more persons tested positive for Coronavirus in Pune, tally reaches 5

Sumit Singh

Pune, March 10, 2020: Three more persons have been found Coronavirus positive today. One is the daughter of the Dubai-return couple who were detected with Coronavirus yesterday, and another is the driver who ferried the couple to Pune after they landed in Mumbai. The fifth person, a resident of Yavatmal, is a co-passenger who travelled with the couple to Dubai, Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said.

He appealed people not to panic as adequate measures are being take to treat the patients.

Four persons are from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limit, while one person is from Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Meanwhile, Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr Deepak Mhaisekar today informed that five squads have been constituted to gather information of all those people who came in contact with these patients. They include officers and employees from revenue, health and police department and from both the Municipal Corporations (PMC and PCMC). They have been assigned the job to verify whether or not the people with symptoms of Corona are found in the places where the couple visited or among the people whom they met.

The couple found Corona positive in Pune city had returned from Dubai on March 1. Both have been quarantined at Naidu Hospital in Pune and the treatment has already started. The condition of both of them is stable. Mild symptoms of Corona were found in one of these two patients, whereas the other has not yet shown any symptoms. The information about all the people who came in contact with these two patients and the places where they have visited, is been observed, keenly. The citizens should take due precautions appealed Divisional Commissioner of Pune Dr Deepak Mhaisekar.

Giving details he further said that both the patients were tested and the information about the places they travelled in last fortnight had been gathered. It is learnt that the couple had visited Dubai with a group of 40 people in February end and returned home on March 1. One of these two patients had problems and he visited the doctor on March 8. His reports were found positive but because Dubai had not been included in the list of affected nations declared by the union government, these two were not quarantined on 1st of March when they returned to India.

Dr Mhaisekar said that the information of all the people who came in contact with these two patients and also the places where they visited has been received. The screening of their family members, friends and the officers and employees where they are working, will also be done.

Dr Mhaisekar also said that the names, contact numbers and addresses of the 40 people with whom these two patients visited Dubai, has also been collected. It revealed that they belong to various districts so the administration of these districts have been asked to go for the tests of all these people and the process has been started.

The divisional commissioner also said that the information of the people with whom these two patients came to Pune from Mumbai by taxi had also been obtained and as a part of preventive measure, they have been admitted to the hospitals for observation.

Till date 207 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has been set up at 21 places in the jurisdiction of PMC and PCMC. Also, the Quarantine (isolated wards) are prepared for combating any situation with full might. Appealing to all the doctors of district through the Indian Medical Association (IMA), he said that the doctors should keep the information of all the patients who are coming to India from foreign lands, separately.

1.29 lakhs persons screened in state

Till March 10, a total of 1,29,448 passengers have been screened at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur International Airports. According to a new Central Government notification, passengers arriving from all over the world are being inspected at these three airports in the state.

Necessary manpower has been made available at the airport by the Public Health Department and the local municipal corporation. Apart from this, the checking of the passengers from the affected areas is also being done. The Bureau of Immigration is informing the state government about travelers from Iran, Italy and South Korea, which are badly affected by Coronavirus.

Since February 21, a total of 591 passengers have come from these countries in the state. From January 18, a total of 391 persons were admitted in various hospitals and 289 persons were detective negative while five have detected positive. At present 12 persons are admitted in hospital in Pune, while three are admitted in Mumbai.

As a precautionary measure for the prevention and control of the new Corona virus, isolation wards have been set up in all district hospitals and government medical colleges in the state. At present there are total 502 beds in isolation wards.

As per the Central Government’s suggestion, travelers from all the countries are being examined at the airport and the passengers with symptoms are being admitted in isolation ward for observation while the list of other travelers from the 12 most affected countries are being shared with state government on a daily basis.

Out of a total of 591 passengers arriving from the affected countries, 353 passengers have already completed 14-days observation in isolation wards.
Travelers from affected countries are also being tracked in Gadchiroli, Nanded, Yavatmal, Buldhana, Nagpur, Wardha, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Amravati, Palghar, Jalgaon, Chandrapur, Satara, Mumbai, Pune and Thane.