Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: A 29-year-old woman from Bihar's Chapra district was suspected to have symptoms of the coronavirus on Sunday and was referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Monday morning.

Ekta Kumari had returned from China on January 22 at Kolkata airport and reached Chapra by train, where her parents live in Shanti Nagar colony.

She is completing her research project in China's Tianjin University, which is in the northeastern part of China. She had left Tianjin University just after the city was hit by the coronavirus.

"She is reportedly speaking well and has not panicked over the situation but wanted to get proper medical care," said a doctor from Chapra.

According to the Principal Secretary of Health Sanjay Kumar, she is suspected to have the virus after reporting mild fever to doctors.

Meanwhile, official sources at Chapra said that she has complained of experiencing mild fever and some minor ailments due to her train journey from Kolkata to Chapra on January 22. She was admitted at Chapra's Sadar hospital ICU.

She was brought to the isolation ward created for coronavirus cases on the first floor of PMCH with adequate deputation of doctors and pathological facilities.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Kumar has asked the airport administration in Bihar, as many tourists from China come to visit many Buddhist circuit tourist places in the state, to take all preventive measures including thermal screening.

Kumar said that the health department has also sent a set of formats developed by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) to all district for proper reporting on any suspected cases.

The department has also deputed doctors in some seven districts, which share a border with Nepal as a precautionary measure and have been put on alert.