Three new cases of COVID-19 in Maharashtra

One each test positive for the disease in Mumbai, Thane, Pune on Thursday; 3 came in contact with sr citizen couple who tested positive, test negative

Three new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state on March 12. While one of these is from Mumbai, the second is from Thane and the third is from Pune, taking the total count in the state to 14.

Dr Pradip Awate, state epidemiologist, stated that while the patients from Thane and Pune are around 35 years old, the patient from Mumbai is a senior citizen. "The patient from Thane had travelled to France and the patient from Mumbai had traveled to Dubai. However, he didn't travel with the 40-member group. The patient from Thane has been admitted to Kasturba Hospital while the patient from Mumbai was admitted to Hinduja Hospital," he said.

Sources said that the patients from Mumbai and Thane both landed in the city on March 8. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said that the patient from Mumbai was being treated for some other ailment at Hinduja Hospital. "The doctors who were treating him suspected that he may be infected with COVID-19 and sent his blood samples to Kasturba Hospital which tested positive. We will make arrangements to accommodate him at Kasturba Hospital. However, it will be his doctors' decision whether he should be transferred," he said. Kakani added that the patient has been kept in isolation at Hinduja and a team of officials from the civic health department visited him on Thursday night.

20 more suspected cases

On Thursday, a day after a senior citizen couple tested positive for COVID-19 — Coronavirus — in Mumbai, 20 others, including those who came in contact with them, tested negative for it. However, 20 more suspected patients were admitted at the Kasturba Hospital in Chinchpokli on Thursday and their test results are awaited.

Senior civic officials said the three acquaintances of the couple were placed in isolation. "Their maid, the driver who drove them home from the airport, and their neighbour, were all admitted and tested negative for COVID-19. Currently, around 40 people have been kept at Kasturba Hospital," said Dr Daksha Shah, deputy executive health officer, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Civic officials from the health department said that the couple are still displaying mild symptoms.

"Ideally we would treat the symptoms and monitor their condition. However, their symptoms are very mild and they don't need any treatment as of now. The protocol is to test two samples of their blood taken 24 hours apart when they display no symptoms after 7-8 days and if both test negative then they can be discharged," said an official from the health department. The husband is 70 while the wife is 68 years old and are residents of the city. The official said a family members they had come in contact with, has travelled to Assam. "We are coordinating with the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme officials in Assam. They will get in touch with him," said the official.

Kasturba to increase beds

Civic officials said that given the growing number of people who are coming forward to get themselves tested, the number of the beds at Kasturba Hospital will be increased from the existing 60 beds to 100 beds.

Three teams of medical and paramedical staff screened people from 106 houses across the city on Wednesday and none of the residents displayed any symptoms.

A team of 40 doctors and around 20 paramedical staff have been stationed at the airport in three shifts.

Dr Shah added that since January 18, 1.96 lakh travellers have been screened at the airport in Mumbai. Of them, 190 people who displayed symptoms of Coronavirus, were admitted to Kasturba Hospital, and of them 168 have tested negative so far.

A rumour about a suspected patient of Coronavirus being detected in one of the buildings at Kamala Mills was doing the rounds on social media on Thursday.

Civic officials, however, refuted the claims.

14
No. of people who tested positive in Maharashtra

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