JOIN USTwo suspected coronavirus cases in Telangana tested negative
Telangana health authorities and citizens of Hyderabad breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday as the test results of two decidedly suspected coronavirus patients in the city turned out to be negative.
A two-day suspense over the two cases - one with travel history to Italy and other a contact case of first COVID-19 positive techie, worried the health machinery and the public alike.
In a bulletin sent out on Wednesday morning, the Directorate of Health and family welfare officials said that the two samples were sent for confirmation to the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
“We were so tensed and worried the last four days (since the first case of a 24-year-old techie was confirmed on Monday) that we actually prayed. And fortunately, both the samples have tested negative,” said Telangana’s health minister Etela Rajender, flanked by senior officials and doctors, in a press conference on Thursday evening.
Mentioning the Italy case as the woman employee of an MNC in the Raheja Mindspace, a prominent IT park in the city, Rajender expressed displeasure “over the way an entire building was evacuated on Wednesday.”
“Such was the alarm, but today her test result came negative.”
The Covid-19 suspected woman was working on ninth floor but employees of all companies operating from Building No 20 were sent home. A mail purportedly sent by the woman’s company management to its staff said that one of their “colleagues in Hyderabad has a confirmed case of Coronavirus.”
Rajender also disparaged the worries expressed by the Mahendra Hills neighbors of the Bangalore employed techie, that his house windows were open.
“The four members of his family including the mother who would not leave a sick child tested negative. This is not a virus that spreads through air, but such blind fears make me wonder if we are in the 21st century or some primitive age,” Rajender remarked.
The minister appealed to the public especially the employees, managers of the vast software industry in Hyderabad to educate themselves and “not overreact.”
“None till now got the virus on Telangana land. The only one positive case who is in Gandhi Hospital had contacted it in Dubai. Even his condition is improving and hopefully would be virus free in a day or two.”
“We should take precautions but should not overreact which might lead us into some undesirable situation. I appeal to everyone to educate themselves and behave responsibly,” the minister said in reference to the Mindspace building evacuation.
The other case – a housekeeping staff of the Apollo Hospital where the Covid-19 positive techie was treated before he joined the Gandhi Hospital also came negative, the minister said displaying the reports.