CoronaVirus: Telangana on edge as seven more +Ve cases reported, total 12 active cases

Hyderabad: In what has put the Telangana state government on edge, Seven more positive for CoronaVirus cases have been confirmed, taking the number to 12 active cases. Out of them, eight are Indonesia nationals including the fifth case (who was confirmed earlier) while the rest four are Indians with a travel history to COVID-19 affected countries.

Notably, the seven new cases were tested positive on March 16th while the confirmation was announced two days later.

The state health department broke the news on late Wednesday evening. According to the latest News bulletin, the seven new confirmed patients were a group of 13 people on a religious tour in India. The group reportedly traveled from Nizamuddin Railway station in Delhi to Ramagundem via AP Samparkranti train (12708) on 13 March. They further proceeded to Karimnagar by road. This has led to another storm amidst the CoronaVirus outbreak in the state because 88 other passengers were traveling in the same coach in which the CoronaVirus confirmed patient was allocated a seat.

In the wake of this, the director of state public health and family welfare department has written to the deputy chief commercial manager of the Secunderabad railway station and asked him to furnish the list of passengers for contact tracing. One of the patient who was earlier tested positive for Coronavirus, was allocated a seat in coach S9, which reached Ramagundem on 14 March. 'In view of the above, it is to further be informed that the contacts/co-passengers who traveled with the Covid-19 positive patient may be vulnerable to getting infected by Coronavirus.” the director public health said in the letter.

Telangana CM calls for an emergency meeting on Thursday

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has decided to convene a high-level emergency meeting on 19 March to discuss measures to be taken to prevent the spread of Corona virus in the state.

The meeting will be held on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m in Pragati Bhavan. All district collectors, police commissioners, and SPs will attend. State health minister Etela Rajender, municipal administration minister K.T Rama Rao, deputy Speaker Padma Rao, and panchayat raj minister E. Dayakar Rao will also be present. Ministers from Hyderabad, Mohammed Ali, Srinivas Yadav, Sabita Indrareddy, and Malla Reddy, principal secretaries of medical and health, panchayat raj, municipal administration, and commissioners have also been asked to attend the meeting. Preventive measures to be taken and regulations to be followed are likely to be discussed.

The CM urged people in the state to stay alert after people who travelled from Indonesia to Karimnagar tested positive for Corona virus. Since the virus is spreading through those coming from abroad, all those coming from foreign countries should undergo tests. People should inform the authorities about those coming from abroad and take measures for their own personal health. KCR has instructed the officials concerned to allow people coming from outside to go home only after they have a complete check-up.