Three more test positive for coronavirus in Maha, number rises

Three more people tested positive for the coronavirus in Maharashtra on Tuesday, and all three had come in contact with a man and a woman who had tested positive a day earlier, the state government said.

It took the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Maharashtra to five, said a press release issued by the state health department.

Samples of a man and a woman from Pune who had been to Dubai recently tested positive on Monday evening.

On Tuesday, their daughter and the driver of the cab in which the family had traveled from the Mumbai airport to Pune also tested positive, Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram informed.

Further, another person from Pune, who had traveled by the same flight as them, also tested positive, the state health department said on Tuesday evening in a release.

Currently, 15 people are quarantined in state hospitals including the five who tested positive for the infection.

Of these, 12 are admitted at Pune-based Naidu hospital while remaining three are in Mumbai.

Since January 18, total of 304 people were quarantined in the state for possible coronavirus infection and 289 of them tested negative, the release said. Reports were awaited in some cases.

The condition of all hospitalised persons was stable, the release added, appealing people not to panic.

Until now 1.29 lakh passengers have been screened at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur airports for coronavirus infection since January 19.

Until last week passengers from only 12 countries including China, where the first outbreak of the coronavirus took place, were screened, but now travelers from all countries have to go through the screening process.

A total of 591 people arrived in Maharashtra from coronavirus-affected areas since January 18.

The health department also stated that the government has formed isolation wards in all district hospitals and government medical colleges, where a total of 502 beds are available.