A software engineer with suspected symptoms of coronavirus was admitted to government-run hospital in Kakinada town of Andhra Pradesh, doctors said on March 4.

Within hours of the state government claiming that the state has no suspected cases of Covid-19, a techie, who had recently returned from South Korea, was admitted in Kakinada hospital in East Godavari district. Doctors said he was kept in isolation ward and his samples were sent to Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad. "It may take 24 to 48 hours to get the results. His condition is stable. He is suffering from cold but there are no other symptoms," a doctor said. The techie, working for a software company in Hyderabad, had reportedly returned from South Korea a week ago. After landing in Hyderabad, he reached his native village Vadapalem in East Godavari district.

Officials in Hyderabad alerted East Godavari district collector Muralidhar Reddy about the techie. Health department personnel rushed to the Vadapalem but the techie had gone to another village to meet his relatives. The officials reached him and convinced him to get himself admitted to the hospital in Kakinada for necessary tests. Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Health said the state medical and health department was fully geared up to meet any eventuality. It has set up isolation wards, besides taking up mass awareness programme and training the staff.

The minister said currently eight hospitals were equipped with isolation wards and as per the Central Government instructions. "We have also established isolation rooms in two hospitals and four more are going to be added," he said. The minister said the awareness programme would be carried out in a big way with distribution of pamphlets on do's and don'ts and display of publicity material at village secretariats which focus on hygiene and cleanliness.

The state government has set up a dedicated call center for the public, which is connected to control rooms at the district level to alert the officials. People who are suspicious about the contact of the virus can contact the call center 0866-2410978. "Anyone with persistent fever, cough, cold or shortness of breath within 28 days must immediately visit the nearest government hospital wearing a mask. As of now, the State has 1,10,340 N-95 masks and over 12,000 personal protection masks," he said.