the goan I network
PANAJI
Two new persons with symptoms of the Novel Coronavirus Disease and history of international travel to affected countries have been admitted on Wednesday to the isolation ward created at Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim.
As per the communique from the Health Department, the condition of both patients is currently stable. GMC has forwarded samples from both the patients to Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Mumbai for tests. Reports are likely to arrive by Friday.
One of the persons admitted is a 27 year-old man from Vasco. He was employed aboard a ship which departed from Goa in June 2019. The vessel travelled to Finland in Europe, where it was docked for two and half months. It then travelled to Italy in February this year and then to Spain and ended its journey in Doha. The 27 year-old flew on a Qatar Airways flight to Goa from Doha.
The Health Department informed that on board the ship, he came in contact with a person, who was later confirmed as suffering from the COVID-19 disease. As he developed cough and fever over the last two days, he asked his family to inform the medical officials in Goa about his condition. Speaking to The Goan, Director of Health Dr Jose D’Sa said, “One of the latest suspect patients self-declared his condition prior to
his arrival in Goa. His family informed the health authorities that he would be arriving and we were informed that he had to be monitored and quarantined.”
The second patient is a 23 year-old woman from Sanquelim who was in Dubai since November end last year and left from there on March 8 on an Air India flight. Upon arriving in Goa, she developed cough and fever on Tuesday.
With these two cases, the total number of persons admitted to the isolation ward at GMC so far stands at 15, of whom 13 have tested negative and have been discharged. In addition to these 15, two more samples were tested who were in close contact with suspected patients. They too have tested negative.
State Epidemiologist Dr Utkarsh Betodkar told The Goan that apart from these persons, the Health Department has till date placed 83 persons under home quarantine. Of these 33 are currently under observation. “These people were asymptomatic but they were isolated following risky international travel to 15 specified countries. They were home quarantined for 14 days and thereafter, if symptoms were to develop, we planned to shift them to GMC for isolation and testing.
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