Bihar reports first suspected coronavirus case, keeps woman under observation

Bihar on Monday reported its first suspected case of rapidly spreading novel coronavirus as it isolated a 29-year-old research scholar, who came home from China’s Tianjin last week, health officials said.

The woman, who was reluctant to be admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) in the state’s capital on Monday morning, has been kept under observation for suspected Coronavirus, which has killed at least 80 people in China and infected thousands across the globe.

Arrangements had been made to send her blood serum sample to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for tests, said state health officials.

The daughter of a government high school principal in Chapra, a PhD student of neuroscience at Tianjin, had flown into Kolkata from China on January 22 and reached home in Chapra a day after.

A couple of days later, she reported mild fever with cold and cough. Her sister in Pune, who got to know about the woman’s condition, alerted the ministry of health and family welfare through its helpline number.

She was initially admitted at the Saran Sadar Hospital on Sunday evening and subsequently referred to the PMCH on Monday morning, officials said.

China on Monday announced an unprecedented extension of the Lunar New Year holidays in the latest attempt to contain the spread the of rapidly spreading coronavirus that has killed at least 80 and infected nearly 2800 in the country.

As many as 43 cases have been reported from other countries with the US confirming the fifth case on Sunday. The highest number of cases, eight, have been reported from Thailand.