No positive case of the coronavirus has been found in Telangana till date, officials of the state government assured citizens on Monday. However, the test results of two persons are awaited for the virus as on Monday.
A total of 74 samples were tested till Monday evening and they were negative. The tests for determination of the nCov are being conducted at the state-run Gandhi hospital in Hyderabad.
Earlier, the samples used to be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for tests. After a request by Telangana Health Minister Etala Rajender, the facilities and arrangements for the testing were made in Hyderabad itself.
The health condition of the negative cases was also being monitored for 28 days, officials said.
The virus is currently assumed to be transmitted to individuals via close contact with an infected person. However new reports are showing that the virus may be spread from carriers who might not be showing any signs of an infection themselves, but are hosts to the virus. The most common symptoms of an infection are fever, cough, cold and runny nose. Breathing difficulties may be seen in more severe cases.
Meanwhile, a team of international experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) left for China. The country's Wuhan province is said to be the epicentre of the outbreak.
Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said earlier that the WHO-coordinated team of global experts will cover clinical management, virology, vaccine, drug development, ecological investigation, animal health, epidemiology, public health and risk communication.
"The team's objective is to learn from Chinese counterparts' experience in dealing with this event so that the world can learn from them," he added.
With inputs from PTI and IANS