Two Chinese men showing symptoms of coronavirus admitted to RML

Two Chinese men are among the three people recently admitted to the isolation ward of city’s Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, one of the two nodal centres for treating

Two Chinese men are among the three people recently admitted to the isolation ward of city’s Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, one of the two nodal centres for treating and keeping in quarantine patients suspected to be infected with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

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Both patients are 39 years of age, and had travelled to India separately on January 1 and January 29. They were brought to the hospital after they reported symptoms such as fever and cough.

The third person is a 34-year-old man who was in China between November 30 and February 9.

“Before this, we had admitted some Indians who had been living in China for several years. Currently, there are four patients in our isolation ward and their lab results are awaited,” said Smriti Tiwari, spokesperson, RML hospital. The hospital has admitted 38 people to the isolation ward; 34 of them were discharged after their reports came back negative.

Around 14 people had been admitted to Safdarjung hospital, the other nodal centre in Delhi.

India has reported three positive cases of the coronavirus that has infected 40,655 and killed 910 globally.

In India, a total of 1,572 samples have been tested by the laboratories of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The government has also screened 2,15,824 passengers from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand at 21 airports. Screening of persons entering India is also being done at 12 major seaports and at border crossings. A total of 9,678 persons without symptoms but travel histories to China are under community surveillance in 32 states and union territories.

All the 654 Indians, who had been evacuated from Wuhan aboard two special Air India flights last week, have tested negative for coronavirus. They will be re-tested on day 14 of their quarantine.

The union health secretary held a meeting with states to check the preparedness measures on Monday. “States were advised to enhance the awareness activities regarding the updated advisories. They were also advised to review the availability of earmarked isolation beds, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and N95 masks so as to ensure adequate preparedness,” said a health ministry release.