With 1 suspected case, UP gears up for nCoV

After one person with suspected Coronavirus symptoms was admitted in a district hospital's isolation ward in Maharajganj district, the Uttar Pradesh government stepped up its preparedness to deal with the deadly virus that has claimed 172 people worldwide.

The patient was identified as a medical student, who recently returned from China. The MBBS student from the Hubei University of Chinese Medicine had managed to skip the special investigation centre at the airport.

As soon as the government and health department officials learnt about the incident through the airport authorities, they extracted the student's residential information from his passport and sent him to the district hospital.

His blood samples, samples of mucus and spit were collected at the district hospital and sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for examination. The report is awaited.

The state government has put on alert all districts on the Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border.

Dr R.N. Singh, campaigner, Mission Save in India, said: "The virus is deadly and has already claimed lives in many countries. A case has been reported from Nepal too." He said that health check posts should be set up, along the UP-Nepal border just like it had been done during the SARS epidemic in 2002.

"We share 1,751-km long open border with Nepal and checking virus only at the airport and not on borders will be an exercise in futility. Health check-posts have been established at entry points on Indo-Nepal border to check the entry of virus in the country."

Checking for virus has already started at airports but open border between the two countries is also being monitored, he said.

Medical experts in the region feel that there is an urgent need to create awareness about the deadly virus in the area, especially in the rural interiors.

The symptoms of coronavirus are similar to any other upper-respiratory infection, including runny nose, coughing, sore throat, and sometimes a fever.

"When the symptoms appear, people believe that it is a normal flu which is normal in this season. It is only when the condition gets beyond repair that people come to hospitals and by then, the patient is firmly in the grip of coronavirus," said Dr M.M. Sahay, a local medical practitioner.

Gorakhpur, which is close to Indo-Nepal border, has a sizeable population that commutes daily to Nepal through Sunauli and Badhni borders. Steps have already been initiated for screening of the virus at the airport but experts believe that health check-up along the open border is more important to check its entry in India.

An awareness campaign was also needed to inform people that patients with cold, cough and fever must immediately be reported to the nearest hospital

"Around half-a-dozen cases of coronavirus have also been detected in Thailand. Many people from here also go to Thailand and people from the country visit Gorakhpur. Health check-posts are the need of the hour," he said.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Srikant Tiwari said that an isolation ward was being set up at the district hospital.

"As of now, no case of coronavirus has been reported in Gorakhpur but the department is ready to deal with the situation," the CMO said.

( With inputs from IANS )