The number of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) infected patients in Uttarakhand increased to four on Monday when the sample of an American citizen was found positive for the disease. It is learnt that the 49 year old American landed in New Delhi on March 11 and came to Dehradun on March 15.
He was admitted in the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital on March 21 with symptoms of the disease and his swab sample was taken for testing. On Monday, the report of his sample was declared positive by the laboratory of Haldwani medical college. In Dehradun, the American was staying at a hotel on Haridwar bypass road. An alarmed administration has sealed the hotel. A list of 15 people with whom he reportedly came into contact has been prepared and all of them would be put on isolation.
The director general (DG) of state health services, Dr Amita Upreti said reports of 36 samples of suspected patients were received on Monday and out of them 35 were found negative and one positive.
The health department also took swab samples of 56 suspected patients on Monday for COVID-19 test. All four patients of COVID-19 including the three trainee officers of Indian Forest Services (IFS) are undergoing treatment at GDMC hospital and condition of all four of them is said to be stable.
In view of the increasing number of suspected patients of Coronavirus, the state administration is planning to allow private laboratories to conduct confirmatory test of the disease.
The additional secretary, health, Yugal Kishore Pant said the central government has given permission to the private labs that have required facilities to conduct test for COVID-19. In Uttarakhand the molecular of laboratory of Mahant Indiresh hospital has the facility for COVID-19 test. Apart from it the health department is also planning to increase the capacity of laboratory of Haldwani medical college and start test facility at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh and GDMC hospital, Dehradun.