215 Italy evacuees test negative for COVID-19

A total of 215 evacuess who were brought to the ITBP Chhawla Quarantine Facility from Italy on March 15, have tested negative for the novel coronavirus, an official said on Saturday.

The group comprises 151 males and 64 females and most of them are students studying in Italy.

The evacuees did not show any COVID-19 symptoms for seven days. The expected quarantine period is of 14 days.

"The second and final sampling will be done on the 14th day of the quarantine period and if that also results as negative, then all these 215 persons will be released from the Centre," said the official of the facilty.

"Daily monitoring and checkups are being undertaken by the ITBP medicos."

The official further said: "All of them are being given all basic facilities required at the Centre as was done with the previous lot of evacuees."

Emergency arrangements have also been set up at the Centre including beds for separate isolation and high-end Ambulances.

A total of 518 people, including 43 foreigners, evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic, were also kept at the ITBP Chhawla in two quarantine sessions from February 1 to March 14 in different batches and were later released after being tested negative.

India has so far reported 285 confirmed coronavirus cases and four deaths. IANS