The Maharashtra government on Saturday decided to release all the quarantined persons and declare them SARS-free.

The government's decision comes in the wake of the World Health Organisation's definition on what constitutes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

According to WHO, a person infected with the corona virus will not infect others unless he starts manifesting the SARS symptoms, which include cough, sneezing and acute difficulty in breathing.

This was announced at a press conference by state Health Minister Digvijay Khanvilkar and Director General of Health Subhash Salunke after a high-power committee meeting of experts at the BJ Medical College in Pune.

"Even Stanley D'Silva, his sister Julie and his mother Vimla had tested positive for corona virus and were declared as SARS affected. They were only infected people and not SARS affected," Khanvilkar said.

Fortunately in Maharashtra, none of the persons who tested positive for corona virus showed these symptoms, he added.

Now, barring one person, who returned from China on April 26 and is admitted in Sassoon Hospital special ward, all the other quarantined persons, numbering over 100, are being discharged.

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