Three Suspected Coronavirus Cases Found in Kanpur, Authorities in Search for 12 People Who Failed to Inform About Their Travel History

Lucknow: Officials of Health Department in Kanpur are in search for 12 people who have failed to inform about their travel history from countries like Italy, Japan, Thailand, Iran and Singapore, where the COVID-19 has a massive impact.

Meanwhile, swab samples of three suspected patients identified have been sent to Lucknow-based King George Medical University (KGMU) for medical tests.

“Three suspected cases have come to our notice while there were 12 more people who had travelled to foreign countries but failed to inform authorities. We have received their information from Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Efforts are being made to reach out to these 12 people and to conduct their thorough medical tests,” a senior officer of the Health Department told media, on condition of anonymity.

Speaking about the three suspected cases, Chief Medical Officer (Kanpur) Dr Ashok Shukla said, “The three suspected cases including two women have recently visited Brazil and had come back via Thailand and Singapore. One of the women belongs to Kalyanpur while the others hail from Nagpur but all have been staying here. Meanwhile, a man belongs to Rawatpur area in Kanpur city. All three suspected cases were facing breathing issues, hence, their swab samples were collected on Wednesday and sent for tests.”

The officials of the Health Department are conducting the counselling of the families of those who have had a foreign travel history.

On Thursday, Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh held a review meeting in Lucknow, where he said that not everyone needs to wear a mask as the novel coronavirus is not an air-borne disease.

“As of now 820 beds have been reserved for isolation across government hospitals in the stat, also seven medical colleges are roped in to provide the isolation facility if needed. Thorough screening is being done at the Indo-Nepal border and till date around 10 lakh people have been screened,” he told media.

Speaking over the panic and apprehension in public regarding COVID-19, he said, “We would like to make it clear that people do not need to panic about the situation and also wearing N95 masks is compulsory only for the people who have symptoms and are in quarantine, their family members and relatives who are in close proximity with them can wear normal masks. People should take precautions but there is no need to panic.”