COVID-19: 284 people under home isolation

Team Udayavani, Mar 3, 2020, 11:26 AM IST

Bengaluru: As many as 284 people have been placed under home isolation across the state for coronavirus symptoms, said an official from Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Services department on Monday.

So far, no positive coronavirus case has been reported in Karnataka. Currently, one person has been admitted to the hospital for coronavirus symptoms, the official confirmed.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu has called a meeting of top officials of his department on Tuesday following information that a Bengaluru techie, who had been to Dubai last month on an official visit tested positive for novel coronavirus in Telangana. The man reached Bengaluru on February 19/20 and later travelled to Hyderabad in a bus.

Sriramulu, in a tweet, said people residing in the person’s local address have been identified and are being monitored. He also said state government has taken all precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus.

Five Karnataka districts bordering Kerala namely Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Udupi, Chamarajanagar and Mysuru, continue to be under surveillance after three positive coronavirus cases were reported in Kerala.

Starting January 20 till Monday, 39,391 passengers have undergone thermal screening for coronavirus at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).

Of all the people screened at the airport, only three had a history of visiting coronavirus epicentre Wuhan in China. A total of 180 people travelled to China other than Wuhan, while 1,984 people travelled to other coronavirus affected countries.

Earlier, Sriramulu had said, the government has strengthened all surveillance and control measures against the spread of the virus in Karnataka.

Till date, 468 travellers from COVID 2019 affected countries have been identified and 284 are under home isolation while one admitted in selected isolation hospital, he had said.

The Karnataka Minister had also said that till date samples of symptomatic are sent for testing, out of which 240 samples were eligible for testing and 238 were reported as negative.

He added that 104 ‘arogya sahayavani’ (health helpline) has reserved 2 seater for receiving calls and providing guidance over Coronavirus and 6,770 calls have been received and information provided.

Globally, more than 3,100 people have died as a result of the virus, the vast majority of them in China. More than 90,000 people have been infected, with cases registered in more than 60 countries.