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Pune strengthens quarantine regime as positive cases rise to nine
The condition of all the nine patients under treatment at the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Naidu Infectious Diseases Hospital is stable, said divisional commissioner
Even as the number of persons testing positive to novel Coronavirus rose to nine on Thursday, the Pune district administration announced plans to further strengthen the quarantine regime for passengers arriving on international flights.
Divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said passengers arriving by the Dubai - Pune flight with a history of visiting seven “high risk” nations post February 15, would be placed under institutional quarantine for 14 days. This would mean quarantine at a government hospital or a government-designated quarantine facility in Pune.
The list of “high risk” nations includes China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany. Passengers who travelled to any of these countries after February 15 would be taken to quarantine facilities in the city, irrespective of whether or not they have any symptoms, Mhaisekar said.
Other passengers arriving on Dubai-Pune flights without travel history to the high risk nations would be advised home quarantine, he said on Thursday at a press conference.
On Thursday, another person, who returned to Pune from the United States tested positive at the National Institute of Virology (NIV). District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said the person landed in Pune on March 1 and his samples were sent for testing to NIV on Wednesday after he showed symptoms similar to deadly infection.
The condition of all the nine patients under treatment at the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Naidu Infectious Diseases Hospital was stable, said Ram. Apart from the nine confirmed patients in Pune, two persons have tested positive for the virus in Mumbai and one in Nagpur.
The number of persons under quarantine at Naidu Hospital rose to 54 on Thursday. They include the nine positive cases, two cases which are inconclusive and 43 cases which are under observation.
Mhaisekar said as per the Union health ministry’s directives, passengers with a history of travel to any of the seven high risk nations landing at Pune airport in the Spice Jet flight from Dubai would be kept in isolation for 14 days as part of institutional quarantine. “We request the family members and relatives of these passengers not to rush to the airport to receive them. We will not allow any relative to meet these passengers,” he said.
Two Spice Jet flights are scheduled to land at Pune’s Lohegaon airport Friday and Saturday at 4.35 am. Mhaisekar said while the carrying capacity of the flight is 190 passengers, the exact number of flyers with details about previous travel history would be obtained from the airline in advance.
Total positive cases till Thursday evening: 09
•Of the nine persons, seven had travelled to Pune from Dubai last month; One (latest case) came from USA and another was the cab driver who brought the Dubai returned family from Mumbai to Pune.
State figures
•Total positive cases in Maharashtra till Thursday evening: 12
•9 from Pune, 2 from Mumbai and 1 from Nagpur
