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Covid-19: Foreign tourists at Pune hotels being tracked, says district administration
The district collector said more people were now voluntarily coming forward to get themselves checked which was a good indication
At least five positive cases of Covid-19 (coronavirus) were reported in Pune on Friday the district administration said on Saturday.
The health of those under institutional quarantine was reported stable. The administration is now rigorously tracking students who had travelled to foreign countries in the last 15 days.
Also, foreign tourists who stayed in various hotels in the city were being tracked and advised for home isolation.
As of Saturday, 19 patients have been quarantined while a total of 15 have tested positive.
After cases of people fleeing from quarantine was being reported from across the country, the district administration cleared that under the Epidemic Diseases Act the administration can imprison any individual who was not cooperating with the health officials for up to 6 months. District collector Naval Kishore Ram said, “The Act also empowers district collector to bring in new rules to suit the larger interest of the public.
The district collector said more people were now voluntarily coming forward to get themselves checked which was a good indication.
Two flights- Air India and Spice Jet- landed early morning at Pune airport and one person voluntarily declared that he had mild symptoms. The man was the husband of the women who was isolated on Friday along with her child. The family had returned from Dubai. The airport authority has also checked the passports of all the passengers to ensure that none of them had travelled to the seven high risk countries after 15 February.
The seven high risk countries include China, Korea, France, Italy, Iran Spain and Germany. Around 5,945 passengers have come at Pune airport since February 15 who are also being tracked. A telephonic surveillance will be followed said officials.
In the absence of any fixed drugs or vaccines, doctors at Naidu hospital are now treating positive patients with Paracetamol and Oseltamivir more commonly known at Tamiflu. Doctors at Naidu hospital said that the patients are undergoing symptomatic treatment since there is no known fixed drug for the virus yet. Dr Sudhir Patsute said, “Since the symptoms in the patients have not aggravated yet we are giving them paracetamol which is usually given for fever or cold and also Oseltamivir which is used to treat multiple viruses in including H1N1, H3N2 and Influenza B. In case any patient feels dehydrated then we give him Intravenous. The medicines we give are only supportive medicines.”
Three categories for screening airport passengers
As per the central government’s guidelines, the Airport Authority will now screen international passengers as per three categories, A, B and C.
A category: High risk: Passengers with symptoms of cold, cough, fever or shortness of breath and have come from countries which have reported local transmission of the virus or passengers who have acute respiratory diseases and have come in contact with a Covid19 patient in the last 14 day and are complaining of any symptoms. Home isolation is recommended.
B category: Moderate risk: Seniors citizens who have returned from the seven high risk countries and are asymptomatic and have a medical history of hypertension, diabetes and asthma. They will be given institutional quarantined.
C category: Low risk: Asymptomatic patients who have returned from any Covid19 affected countries would be recommended home isolation.
Advisory: postpone mass weddings; students to sit on alternate benches for competitive exams
Urging citizens to stay away from crowds, district collector Naval Kishore Ram said that those organizing mass wedding should postpone the ceremony. The district administration also said that since schools are shut, the management can arrange for every student to sit on alternate benches. The district collector advised students to stay at home and not venture out during the holiday times.
Watch on foreigners at Osho Commune
The district administration has advised authorities of Osho Commune to isolate the foreign travellers who have travelled or visited the ashram in the last 15 days.
