Coronavirus: Mumbai man in hospital for possible exposure

In the fourth such incident in Mumbai, a 36-year-old man has been admitted in the isolation ward of a civic-run hospital on suspicion of possible exposure to the novel coronavirus, officials said on Monday (January 27).

The man, a resident of Tardeo in south Mumbai, is currently kept under observation at Kasturba Hospital in the city, they said. Three persons were last week admitted in the hospital for possible exposure to the virus strain, after screening of passengers was done at the Mumbai international airport.

All the three were hospitalised as precaution, officials had said on January 25. As of January 24, some 2,700 passengers had undergone thermal screening at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here since January 19 after an outbreak of a new coronavirus was reported in Chinas Wuhan city. No case of coronavirus infection has been found in Maharashtra yet.

The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before. It has killed 26 people so far, and has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).