Hyderabad: A total of five people have been admitted to the Fever Hospital in the city on Tuesday in relation to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.
Three members of a family, who had visited China, have self-reported to the Fever Hospital as they had mild cough and were admitted to the hospital. A medical student from Wuhan, who has reported with symptoms of gastric problems, has also been admitted to the hospital and kept under observation.
Another person, who was in close proximity with an individual who had returned from China, has also self-reported to the hospital. The samples of all five have been taken and are being sent to Pune for testing.
Deccan Chronicle had reported on the bickerings within the health department over budgets on sending samples and it has been decided that samples would be sent by courier.
These are specialised companies that deal with safe transport of bio-medical material and have expertise for the same. The health officials clarified that presently budget for these expenses is being taken from the hospital development fund.
Meanwhile, the helpline number given by the ministry of health and family welfare department is buzzing as people are self-reporting their return from China. Scientists, software engineers, businessmen and professionals who have visited the country are worried and as a precautionary measure are voluntarily revealing details.
The flights from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand would also have their passengers screened as some of the people who have travelled to China are returning through these flights.
A scientist, who had returned on Sunday night, complained that there was no thermal checking for him at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and he had self-reported to Fever Hospital. The checks have now been extended and it has been decided to screen these passengers too.
While the ministry of health and family welfare has announced that the IndianCouncil for Medical Research (ICMR) centre in Hyderabad would also be used for tests, presently there is no official communication and it has not yet been started.
