A 30-year-old spare parts importer suspected of exposure to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) has been quarantined at the government hospital in Nagpur. In all, 12 patients have been quarantined in the State including five each in Mumbai and Pune, and one each in Nagpur and Nanded.
According to the medical superintendent of Nagpur Hospital, Dr. Rajesh Gosavi, the businessman had returned home on January 6. “He was about 1000 km away from Wuhan and had some symptoms which subsided. He panicked after reading news reports and walked in to the hospital on Thursday. At present, he only has a runny nose,” said Dr. Gosavi adding that his samples have been sent to National Institute of Virology in Pune. Dr. Gosavi said that a 24-year-old woman studying in China has also reported with diarrhoea but she has no other symptoms associated with nCoV like fever, cough, and cold.
State health officials said that nine of the 12 samples have tested negative while reports of some repeat samples were awaited.
Meanwhile, the panic has resulted in shortage of masks. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday prohibited the export of personal protection equipment (PPE), including clothing and masks used for protection air borne particles. This also includes the N95 respirators.
State government authorities however assured that they had enough protective gear for now. “We have 1,6831 N95 masks and have placed an order for an additional 1.8 lakh,” said Dr Anup Kumar Yadav, director of National Health Mission, Maharashtra. Mumbai's additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani, said the civic body has around 17,000 masks including the three layered masks and N95, 6,600 rubber gloves and 790 PPE sets.
