CHENNAI: Twelve persons including eight Chinese nationals, have been kept under observation at isolation wards across the State, according to Health Minister C Vijayabaskar.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the lab facility at the King Institute, Guindy, where the blood and swab samples will be tested for coronavirus, the minister said 10 people were under observation at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, one at Ramnad district and another at Tiruchy.
All are asymptomatic. However, they were being kept under observation on account of travel history and there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the State yet, the minister said.
He further said that a total of 799 people, who had travelled to China and other affected countries and returned to Tamil Nadu, were being kept under house observation.
"Also, the Central government wants to test all passengers from Wuhan even if they don’t have symptoms. So far, samples have been taken from nine people, among them four were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, and the remaining will be tested at the King Institute,” he added.
Vijayabaskar also said the patients will get the results within 48 hours of sample collection. He also appealed to people not to spread rumours about the virus in the State.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and have so far, screened 5,543 passengers at the airports. Among them, 646 are from China and 153 were from coronavirus affected countries,” he said. Earlier, he also appealed to people through a video, to maintain personal hygiene.”
People should wash hands after returning home from public places. Simple hand washing and disinfecting surfaces will prevent infection from spreading. ,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials at the Directorate of Public Health said among the 10 people at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, eight are Chinese nationals.
“Only one Chinese national had symptoms like cold, cough and also mild temperature, during screening at the airport, so he was shifted to the isolation ward there and samples were taken. While the other seven were asymptomatic, we didn’t want to take a chance, so we kept them also under observation and their samples will be taken,” an official said.
In another case, the officials also took samples from a family in Coimbatore, after a woman in the family who travelled from China, had symptoms.
Tests to be going on
All the tested people are asymptomatic. However, they were being kept under scrutiny. 799 people who returned to Tamil Nadu, were kept under house observation.