Two samples from Telangana sent to Pune for confirmation on COVID-19, 45 others test negative

Samples of two persons have been sent to the National Institute of Virology at Pune for confirmation of coronavirus, health authorities said on Wednesday, as the government stepped up precautionary measures.

The virus scare hit the IT corridor at Cyberabad in Hyderabad with a complex, housing software companies, being "closed" for sanitisation after a person working there was suspected to be suffering from the infection.

The state reported its first COVID-19 case on Monday when a 24-year-old software personnel, who recently returned from Dubai, had tested positive for the virus.

State Health Minister E Rajender said in a release on Wednesday that samples of two persons have been sent to Pune for full confirmation with regard to COVID-19.

The two persons are among the 47 whose samples were tested at the state-run Gandhi hospital here on Tuesday. According to the minister, 45 samples tested negative. The two persons are - a foreigner who came from Italy and another who moved closely with the man who tested positive for the virus, he said.

According to a police official, of the 21 buildings in the complex located in the IT corridor "only one building has been closed for sanitisation, that too it has not been entirely closed."

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As a precautionary measure, the employees working in the buildingconcerned were asked to "work from home", the official said.

A bulletin on COVID-19 issued by the state health department on Tuesday said test results of 36 samples were awaited. However, more samples were sent for tests subsequently, taking the total number tested the same day to 47, official sources said.

The condition of the techie, who tested positive for the virus and being treated in an isolation ward in the state-run Gandhi hospital, is stable, the release said. The man, who is working in Bengaluru, had gone to

Dubai last month, where he is suspected to have contracted the virus after allegedly coming into contact with some people from Hong Kong.

He had returned to Bengaluru from Dubai and then travelled to Hyderabad in a bus. The Telangana government has taken up a process of tracking about 88 people who came in contact with the techie to ascertain if they have contracted the virus.

As part of precautionary measures, the government has decided to undertake a campaign to promote cleanliness in public transport to prevent the spread of the virus.

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