BENGALURU: As India reels from the novel coronavirus scare, patients are showing up at hospitals to get diagnosed based on symptoms they show, fearing that they have the disease.
"Altogether 10 new patients came to the hospital on Friday. We have taken their samples to send for testing. They were showing influenza-like symptoms. They will be quarantined at home. Of the three patients who returned from Wuhan and were kept in the isolation unit of the hospital, two of them have tested negative for the disease," said director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, C Nagaraja.
The two have been discharged, while the hospital awaits the report of the third isolated patient. Of the 13 samples sent from Karnataka before Friday, 12 have tested negative. "Coronaviruses are types of viruses that typically affect the respiratory tract of mammals, including humans. They are associated with common cold, pneumonia, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). It can also affect the gut," a government advisory reads. Symptoms include fever, cough, running nose (cold) and chest radiographs showing lesions on both lungs.
Over 4000 screened at Bengaluru airport
BENGALURU: A total of 4,367 flyers have been thermal screened for symptoms of the novel coronavirus at Kempegowda International Airport in the past 11 days.
Speaking to TNIE, Dr BG Prakash, joint director, Communicable Diseases, Health Department said, “We began thermal screening at the airport on January 20, and till Jan 31, we have screened 4,367 passengers, which is an average of 350 people per day."
He added that the screening is being carried out for passengers coming from two flights from China and a third flight which halts here while on transit to other Indian cities. "We check for fever symptoms and any passenger who shows them is referred to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases," he said.