BHOPAL: A medical student and his mother – both suspected patients of the Wuhan coronavirus – have been quarantined at a Government Hospital in Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh. It's the first suspected case in the state of the deadly virus which has taken over 100 lives so far in China.
The mother-son duo was admitted at the hospital in Ujjain on Monday. They have been quarantined at an isolated ward at the hospital and their treatment is underway.
According to Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) of Ujjain district Dr Mahavir Khandelwal, “The young medical student Amol, a resident of Mahananda Nagar locality of Ujjain, has been pursuing his studies in the coronavirus-hit Wuhan in China. He left Wuhan to come to India on January 11 and has been at his home in Ujjain since January 13. After coming to know that Amol and his mother are suffering from symptoms like runny nose, cough and sore throat, we considered it better to quarantine the mother-son duo at the hospital.”
“Both of them have been quarantined at an isolated ward and are under treatment. They are under round the clock observation by a dedicated team of doctors. Their throat swab samples have been sent for analysis and the report is likely in 20 days. Till the mother-son duo doesn’t improve clinically, they’ll be under our observation at the isolated ward,” the CMHO-Ujjain added.
The CMHO said health department teams are also screening the area where Amol’s family lives in Ujjain (for similar medical symptoms), particularly those who might have been in contact with him recently.
Amol said though he has been quarantined, he hopes the test reports would be negative as he’s a strict vegetarian.
Early reports from Wuhan pointed to the seafood market as a possible source. Scientific reports pointed to bats, snakes and the exotic live wild animals housed in Wuhan to have been the likely source.
Meanwhile, talking to journalists in Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s health and family welfare minister Tulsi Silawat said, “The entire health department has been instructed to monitor the situation across the state and step up their vigil after two suspected cases of the coronavirus were reported in Ujjain.”