Bengaluru: Tests conducted on a co-worker of the techie who tested positive for coronavirus in Hyderabad have returned negative, and a man who shared a flat with him remains asymptomatic, Karnataka’s medical education minister Dr K Sudhakar said today.
The asymptomatic flatmate has not been tested.
All the same, both men have been advised to remain under observation for 28 days.
In all, tests on three of the five persons quarantined for the COVID-19 virus have returned negative till this evening.
Apart from these two men in contact with the Hyderabad case, three others remain under watch at the Rajeev Gandhi Chest Diseases Institute.
One is a man from Iran, who too tested negative.
Results of tests on two more quarantined persons, both Indians who arrived from notified countries Japan and Saudi Arabia, are awaited.
Dr Sudhakar said authorities have completed the screening of all people in the apartment complex where the Hyderabad case stayed for a day before he tested positive.
“Of the 92 flats, 11 were locked prior to the techie’s visit. So the health department did not conduct any screening of people in those flats. Setting aside these 11 locked flats, health authorities screened 65 persons on Tuesday and 189 on Wednesday. All of them were found to be asymptomatic but we have ordered them to go through the 28-days mandatory quarantine period,” he explained.
The Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare Service has identified 637 travellers from coronavirus-affected countries and put 419 of them under home isolation.
On Wednesday 77 new passengers were enrolled for observation, and 75 travellers were put under home isolation.
The department stated that four Chinese passengers have left the country and five are admitted in selected isolation hospitals.
As on Wednesday, 280 samples of symptomatic persons have been sent for testing out of which 275 samples were eligible for testing and 259 reported as negative. And 209 passengers have completed 28 days of observation.
The border districts of Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Udupi, Mysuru, Raichur, Kalaburgi and Bidar have been placed under COVID-19 surveillance.
