Maha: Chinese national, 5 others test negative for coronavirus

Six persons including a Chinese national who were admitted to hospitals in Maharashtra for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus have tested negative, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Saturday.

Since January 18, a total of 35 patients were admitted to isolation wards at hospitals in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmednagar and a few other cities.

Samples of thirty of these patients tested negative for the virus, while reports of five others were yet to be received from Pune's National Institute of Virology, an official statement said here.

"The Chinese national admitted at the Naidu Hospital in Pune has tested negative. Another person, under observation at the district hospital in Ahmednagar is also among those who have tested negative," the statement quoted Tope as saying.

The 31-year-old Chinese man was quarantined after he vomited on Air India flight while travelling from Delhi to Pune on Friday morning.

"The reports of remaining five persons are expected on Sunday," Tope added.

Two persons who hail from Kerala and who were studying at medical colleges in China's coronavirus-hit Wuhan city, were admitted to Mumbai's Kasturba Hospital on Thursday evening.

"They have not shown any symptoms, but admitted to the hospital as a precautionary measure," the statement said.

A total of 18,084 passengers have been screened at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai since January 18.

Of these, 140 passengers had returned from the coronavirus-hit areas.

No confirmed case of coronavirus infection has been found in Maharashtra.