Coronavirus spread: Telangana govt reviews measures to prevent spread of COVID 19

The Telangana government on Tuesday reviewed preparedness and measures to check the spread of novel Coronavirus (COVID 19) in the wake of a man from the state testing positive for the virus.

Ministers of Health, Municipal Administration and Panchayat Raj, along with senior officials, held a meeting here to discuss measures to be taken following the detection of the positive case in the city, official sources said.

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A decision was taken to set up a 24-hour call centre, besides strengthening the existing one, they said.

Asserting that the government was fully prepared to deal with the situation, the officials advised the public not to panic.

The state government has also decided to intensify its campaign to create awareness among people on the virus and the precautions to be taken to avoid contracting it.

On Monday, a 24-year-old software engineer from the city, who works in Bengaluru, was found to be the first confirmed case of nCov from Telangana.

The techie had worked with people from Hong Kong in Dubai last month, where he is suspected to have contracted the virus.

He had returned to Bengaluru in February before traveling to Hyderabad in a bus.

He was suffering from fever and took treatment at a private hospital in the city. As the fever did not subside, he reported to the state-run Gandhi hospital on Sunday evening.

He was admitted to an isolation ward in the hospital and his condition was stated to be stable. After he tested positive for the virus on Monday, the state government has begun the process of tracking those who came in contact with him (about 80 people), including his family members and medical staff at the private hospital where he underwent treatment.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are 89,527 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3,056 deaths reported globally in 67 countries.