No confirmed coronavirus case in Chhattisgarh so far: Minister

The Chhattisgarh government on

Thursday said no confirmed case of the novel coronavirus has been reported so far in the state and all necessary measures have been taken to deal with any situation.

So far, 13 people from different districts were screened for possible exposure to the coronavirus infection and samples of nine of them tested negative, health officails said.

Samples of remaining four persons were sent on Thursday for examination to a Nagpur-based lab and their reports are awaited, they said.

So far, no confirmed case of coronavirus has been reported in the state. Nine samples were sent for examination and of these, reports of all persons have been received and none of them tested positive (for COVID-19), Health and Family Welfare Minister TS Singh Deo told reporters this evening.

 

Local administration in all districts was closely monitoring the situation, the minister said, adding there was no need to panic.

Singh Deo this evening convened a video conferencing meeting with collectors, superintendents of police (SPs) and health officials of all 28 districts and took stock of preparedness to deal with any situation in the backdrop of reports of outbreak of the disease in different parts of the country.

Isolation wards have been set up in all district hospitals and officials have been asked to make people aware about them, he said.

In view of Holi next week, officials have been asked to advise people to take precautions while attending celebrations, the minister said.

"However, it doesnt mean people should stop playing Holi but they should stay alert," he said.

A Rapid Response Team (RRT) has been constituted in every district to act immediately after any suspected case of the virus infection is detected, Singh Deo said.

Meanwhile, a health official here in Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, said on Thursday that blood and swab samples of four more persons, including a woman, were sent to Nagpur to check for coronavirus infection.

Earlier, nine samples were sent and all of them tested negative for the virus, he said.

However, these people were kept in home quarantine as a precautionary measure, the official said.

The 13 persons, whose samples were taken, had recently travelled to coronavirus-infected countries, including China and Italy, the official said.