Team visits Guj to review situation

Ahmedabad, Feb. 5: As many as 246 people, who have returned to Gujarat recently from coronavirus-hit China, are under observation at their homes, but no positive case of the infection has been found in the state so far, a senior health department official said on Wednesday.

They are among 900odd people who have returned to Gujarat from China after the outbreak of the new strain of the coronavirus which has taken nearly 500 lives till now in the neighbouring country.

A central team comprising three doctors visited Gujarat and took stock of the health administration’s preparedness to identify as well as treat any infected patient, said principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi.

Out of the eight persons who had shown symptoms similar to the coronavirus, medical reports of five of them came negative, while results of the three are awaited, she said.

“Till now, 930 people have returned to Gujarat from China (since the coronavirus outbreak in December).

We have kept 246 of them under 14-day quarantine observation at their homes and our doctors are visiting them regularly.

“We had sent samples of eight persons to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, to confirm if they were infected with this virus,” she said.

“However, samples of five suspected cases came negative, while results of three are yet to come. There are no positive cases of coronavirus in Gujarat yet. There is no need to panic.

“As a precautionary measure, the health department has advised sarpanches (village heads) and female health workers to spread awareness about the disease and advice people to maintain good personal hygiene,” the senior bureaucrat said.