Covid-19 in Maharashtra: Mumbai, Thane & Pune each get 1 new case – Times of India

MUMBAI: Covid-19 cases in the state jumped to 14 on Thursday after a resident from Mumbai and two individuals from Thane and Pune were detected positive for the infection. Among the new cases, a 64-year-old man from the city with a travel history to Dubai was serious, state officials said late on Thursday, adding that there were discussions to invoke the Epidemic Act of 1897 in Maharashtra. Until Wednesday, the state had had 11 cases.
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Public health minister Rajesh Tope confirmed that the Mumbai resident who had tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday was admitted in the ICU of a private hospital with breathing difficulty. “His condition is critical. We are closely monitoring his condition,” the minister said. BMC officials, however, said the man was not on a ventilator and that his condition was stable. BMC’s additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the individual was given the choice to shift to Kasturba Hospital, the city’s dedicated isolation facility.

Health officials said the individual had returned to the city on March 8. Soon after, he visited the private hospital he routinely consulted with a cardiac complaint. His treating doctor, however, suspected that it was not his routine heart problem and that the breathing difficulty was caused by something else. His samples, sent to Kasturba’s PCR laboratory for testing on Thursday, came positive in the evening, triggering a flurry of activity. Sources said the individual was kept in isolation in the private hospital.
Kakani said BMC teams were despatched to begin the process of contact tracing. “He may have come in contact with family members, doctors and paramedic staff at the hospital, among others. Our teams will begin taking their details,” he said, adding that the BMC was consulting the individual and his treating doctor on shifting him to Kasturba Hospital.
The two other new positive cases in the state were of a 35-year-old Thane resident with a travel history to France and a 33-year-old Pune resident who had returned from the US. The Thane man, who is undergoing treatment at Kasturba Hospital, was responding well to treatment, Kakani said. He added that Mumbai has added nearly 100 isolation beds and would upgrade more, depending on the situation. So far, over 190 people have been admitted at Kasturba Hospital, of which two have come positive. On Thursday, another 20 patients were admitted, taking the total count of isolated patients to 40.
Even as cases of coronavirus cases were rapidly detected, state officials said they were faced with instances where individuals refused to be quarantined.