Riyadh, Jan 24, 2020: A Saudi health ministry affiliate on January 23 said there were no cases of coronavirus in the kingdom, denying earlier reports of an Indian nurse working in the Islamic kingdom being infected.
Earlier, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs said an Indian nurse working at a hospital in southwestern Saudi Arabia has been infected by the coronavirus and was being treated, amid an outbreak that has killed at least 18 people in China.
But the Saudi Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a tweet that there were no cases of the novel coronavirus so far.
Another statement from the Saudi health ministry said that the case mentioned in the Indian minister’s tweet was related to an infection with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and was being dealt with.
“The ministry has taken all the precautionary measures to deal with this global issue and is in close coordination with all concerned entities,” the statement added.
The kingdom on January 22 said that it would start screening passengers arriving from China and take other preventive measures following the outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
The virus, which can pass from person to person, has been reported in Thailand, Japan and South Korea, raising concerns about its spread through international air travel. More than 630 people have been infected, mostly in China, but cases have been detected as far away as the United States.
Elsewhere in the Gulf region, Qatar and Bahrain called on their citizens in China to exercise caution against the virus, the state news agency reported on Thursday.
Kuwait’s Ministry of Health said that thermal cameras were added to border crossings so passengers arriving from countries affected with coronavirus could be thermally screened, according to the state news agency.
Earlier, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said a nurse from Kerala working at the Aseer National Hospital in Saudi Arabia had tested positive for coronavirus when she and nearly 100 of her Indian colleagues were screened.
The affected nurse is being treated at and is recovering well, the minister tweeted.
“Update from @CGIJeddah: About 100 Indian nurses mostly from Kerala working at Al-Hayat hospital have been tested and none except one nurse was found infected by Coronavirus. The affected nurse is being treated at Aseer National Hospital and is recovering well.”
Muraleedharan said he spoke to the Indian Consulate in Jeddah after the Indian nurses were quarantined at Al-Hayat Hospital, Khamis Mushait, due to the coronavirus threat.
“They are in touch with hospital management and Saudi Foreign Ministry. Have asked our Consulate to provide all possible support,” he said. The Indian embassy in Jeddah clarified in a tweet that the nurse found positive for coronavirus was suffering for MERS-CoV and not 2019-NCoV (Wuhan).
“Dr Tarik Al Azraqi, chairman, Scientific Regional Infection Control Committee, Aseer Region, has confirmed that d Indian Nurse being treated at Aseer National Hospital is suffering from MERS-CoV & not 2019-NCoV (Wuhan). We request everyone to refrain from sharing incorrect info,” it said in the tweet.
The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012, while the 2019 Wuhan coronavirus is a novel one, meaning a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before.
The coronavirus has infected over 630 people and left 17 others dead in China, where authorities have locked down five cities, including Wuhan, and suspended all public transport in an unprecedented move to contain its spread.
The Union health ministry has said 12,828 passengers from 60 flights have been screened for novel coronavirus infection till January 22 but no positive case has been detected in the country so far.
Federal Health Secretary Preeti Sudan is reviewing the evolving scenario and preparedness status. She has asked states and union territories to review hospital preparedness in terms of isolation and ventilator management of critically ill patients, identify gaps and strengthen core capacities in the area of surveillance and laboratory support, an official statement said.
Thermal screening is being done at the international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin.
The civil aviation ministry has asked airlines to follow the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines for managing and notifying anybody reporting illness on flights originating from China and disembarking in India.
A travel advisory was issued on January 17 and put up on the ministry’s website and also on the Twitter handle for wider circulation.
Source: thehindu.com