SARS virulence low: M'rashtra health chief

Health authorities in Maharashtra said there was no reason to panic over SARS, as the virulence of the infection was low.

Health authorities in Maharashtra on Wednesday said there was no reason to panic over SARS, as the virulence of the infection was low even as nine more persons tested positive in the city.

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State director general of Health Subhash Salunke told reporters here that in Maharashtra all the patients have shown only incubation. "None of them have exhibited full blown symptoms and hence there was no reason to panic", he said.

The nine staff members of Sidharth hospital, who tested positive for SARS, also cannot be termed as 'patients' because they are not showing any clinical symptoms of SARS. "They are infected but not diseased", Salunke said.

Speaking about the line of action in the treatment of SARS affected persons, he said the quarantine period has been extended from ten to 14-days as an additional precaution.