Condition of coronavirus-hit man stable: Telangana minister

The condition of the man, who tested positive for the novel Coronavirus, was stable and he is being treated in an isolated ward at the state-run Gandhi hospital in the city, Telangana Health Minister E Rajender said on Monday. The 24-year-old man, a software engineer who works in Bengaluru, had worked with people from Hong Kong in Dubai last month where he is suspected to have contracted the virus, Rajender told reporters.

The man reached Bengaluru on February 19/20 and later came to Hyderabad in a bus. He took treatment for fever after coming to Hyderabad and was admitted to a private super speciality hospital in the city. As it did not subside, he came to the state-run Gandhi hospital on Sunday evening, Rajender said.

According to the minister, the government is tracking all those who came in contact with him, including family members besides those who travelled with him in the bus and the medical staff in the private hospital where he was treated. The state government would function as per the guidelines of the Centre, the minister said. Rajender hoped that the man would be cured as it happened in the case of Indians who previously tested postive for the virus.

The state government has informed its counterparts in Karnataka about the present case, he said, adding,arrangements were being made to ensure that the virus does not spread. Two fresh cases of the novel coronavirus - one in Delhi and another in Telangana have been reported in India, taking the number of people who have tested positive for the respiratory virus in the country to five so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

The infected person from Delhi recently travelled to Italy. The deadly virus, COVID-19, has killed 2,912 people in China and has spread to at least 58 countries. The three people, which include two medical students of a university at Wuhan, who had earlier tested positive for the virus in Thrissur, Alappuzuha and Kasaragod districts in Kerala were discharged following recovery.