A middle-aged Bengaluru resident, who returned to the city on January 19 from the Chinese city of Wuhan, was screened for novel coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV) at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases after he started developing some symptoms.
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, which is suspected to be the epicentre of the viral outbreak. Till now, over 26 patients have died in China alone. There are multiple cases of the viral disease across China and neighbouring southeastern nations.
The Hindu reported that the man’s blood samples and throat swabs were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. He was admitted on Wednesday after he showed some symptoms upon his return from China.
However, according to hospital staff, he has been tested negative, reported Deccan Herald.
The DH report quoted Dr Prakash Kumar, Deputy Director, Communicable Diseases, as saying that he was kept in isolation and that the information of him being tested for coronavirus was withheld to maintain his privacy.
The report said the patient used to travel to Wuhan for business trips and had shown symptoms of the viral disease.
Other than this patient, six others who had arrived in Bengaluru from Beijing and Wuhan have also been isolated. Among them are four Chinese nationals and two Indian nationals. While two are in their houses, the four Chinese nationals are in their hotel and so far, all of them remain asymptomatic.
Reports said that other than Hubei, two other provinces — Heilongjiang and Hebei are also majorly affected. Many cities have been shut down with life coming to a standstill with public transport, outbound trains and planes being cancelled.
Outside China, there have been reported cases from neighbouring Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Singapore.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on January 9 had first confirmed the outbreak of the new strain of the coronavirus. According to health officials from China, the deceased had been battling underlying health conditions (such as diabetes, hypertension etc), which led the disease to rapidly progress and led to their deaths.
TNM had earlier reported that Saudi authorities have confirmed that a nurse from Kerala has not been affected by the same virus but a different strain of the virus called Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).