State Gazette

The case of Prashil Varde, a 32-year-old marine engineer who arrived in Goa from Singapore after a brief Mumbai stopover, is certainly curious. A week after arriving in the tiny coastal state, he admitted himself into the Goa Medical College hospital. Varde was discharged after a two-day stay during which his chest X-ray reports were found to be normal and, more importantly, his fever had subsided. He was at home when his blood and sputum samples turned out to be positive for SARS. Varde promptly volunteered to go to the hospital’s isolation ward. His wife is also under "isolation" at home, say health ministry officials. To quell rising panic, Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar reassured all: "The patient has been cured after he was treated."

But the battle against SARS is far from over. Late last week, news washed up of another suspected case in Delhi. A 42-year-old New Zealander, Dimer Kin Ross, who reached Delhi on a Thai Airways flight last Wednesday after spending a fortnight in Bangkok, was found exhibiting SARS symptoms. He was shifted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where he was put in a special isolation ward after the hospital was put on high alert.