The condition of the 24-year-old techie, who tested positive for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Hyderabad, is stable and the process of tracking people he came in contact with was on, Telangana Health Minister E Rajender said on Tuesday, 3 March.
Admitted to an isolation ward in the state-run Gandhi hospital here, the man is found to have come in contact with 88 people.
Rajender said of these, 45 had been brought to the Gandhi hospital here and their testresults awaited.
Test would be conducted for the remaining 43 also, he added.
The 24-year-old man was in Dubai last month and worked with people from Hong Kong where he is suspected to have contracted the virus. From Dubai, he had returned to Bengaluru before travelling to Hyderabad in a bus.
He took treatment at a private hospital in Hyderabad for fever and reported at the state-run hospital on Sunday evening as it did not subside.
The software professional is the first confirmed case of the virus in Telangana.
The minister spoke to reporters after a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee wheremeasures to be taken to prevent the spread of the virus following detection of the positive case were discussed.
The meeting was attended by other members of the cabinet sub-committee--state municipal administration minister K T Rama Rao and panchayati raj minister E Dayakar Rao--along with senior officials.
Rajender also said the state government has set up isolation wards in five government hospitals and has identified altogether 3,000 beds, including 2,000 in different private medical colleges.
The minister said he spoke to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Central officials and sought supply of masks which was accepted.
Replying to a query, he said the family members of the virus-infected patient were doing fine.
Asked if the state government has enough doctors and other staff, he said 24 doctors have been allocated for handling the cases and another 20 have been identified.
"If more are required, the services of retired doctors and retired nursing staff would be utilised." Rajender said the sub-committee discussed measures to deal with the situation and to instill confidence among people.
Chief Minister has sanctioned Rs 100 crore to be used for measures to deal with the virus situation, he said and asked people not to panic.
The state government would undertake a major campaign to spread awareness on COVID-19, including setting up of hoardings, publishing pamphlets and also through TV and other media, he said.
A helpline '104' would be fully functional from Wednesday.
The minister hoped that the novel coronavirus would not survive in the increasingly rising temperatures of Telangana
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