The Goa government has decided to form a special task force to monitor cases, if any, of coronavirus in the tourist state.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said that people arriving in Goa from the virus-affected regions outside India would be closely monitored.
“I have given instructions to form a special task force to monitor any cases of coronavirus in Goa. All the activities, including people arriving from the virus-affected regions, would be closely monitored and reported to the state Chief Secretary,” Rane told reporters.
The task force will work as per the guidelines laid down by the Union Ministry of Health, he added.
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).
meanwhile A suspected case of coronavirus has been reported in Rajasthan, following which the patient has been kept in isolation, state Health Minister Raghu Sharma said on Sunday.
He said a doctor, who returned to India after completing the MBBS course in China, was kept in isolation at the SMS Hospital here on the suspicion of being affected by coronavirus.
Directions were given to conduct a screening of all the family members of the patient, he added.
In an official statement, the minister said a blood sample of the patient was sent to the National Virology Laboratory in Pune.
He added that a total of 18 people from four districts of the state had returned to the country from China and the respective district chiefs and medical officers were directed to keep them under surveillance for 28 days.
Sharma also urged the Union health minister to make the screening facility available at the international terminals of various airports in the country.
