At least 1,793 people are under surveillance at homes across Kerala and 70 have been admitted to isolation wards at hospitals. (File)
A third case of coronavirus positive infection has been reported in Kerala, Health Minister K K Shailaja confirmed Monday.
The patient, who has a history of travelling from the virus outbreak epicenter of Wuhan in China, is currently in isolation at the government district hospital in Kanjangad in Kasaragod district. The state health department received the positive sample results of the patient from National Institute of Virology in Pune today morning. The patient is stable.
Health Minister @shailajateacher says the patient is stable. The sample test result on the infection arrived today morning. Two other coronavirus positive patients are in Thrissur and Alappuzha Medical Colleges @IndianExpress
— Vishnu Varma (@VishKVarma) February 3, 2020
Currently, two other patients, both medical students at a university in Wuhan, are being treated in isolation wards at the Thrissur and Alappuzha Medical Colleges respectively. Both the students had travelled together to Kochi from Wuhan.
The health minister said 104 blood and fluid samples of patients being treated in isolation at hospitals across Kerala had been sent to NiV, Pune out of which 36 had come back negative till Sunday night. A virology lab attached to the Medical College in Alappuzha received a license Sunday to test samples for coronavirus. Henceforth, some of the tests can be carried out at the Alappuzha facility to generate faster results.
Till Sunday, at least 75 people were being treated in isolation wards in hospitals in the state and close to 1924 people put under home quarantine with a majority of them having returned from Wuhan and other areas in China. After a meeting with top district health and police officers in Alappuzha Sunday, the health minister said there’s greater need for awareness and vigilance among people, especially those under home quarantine.
The novel coronavirus infection that first broke out in Wuhan, China, has spread to 25 countries so far. At least 361 deaths and 17,205 cases of the virus have been reported from China. The Philippines Sunday reported the first death reported outside China, news agency AFP had reported. Meanwhile, experts suggested that the spread of the virus is now likely to become a pandemic that circles the globe, NYT reported. A pandemic is an ongoing epidemic— on two or more continents — may well have global consequences, despite the extraordinary travel restrictions and quarantines now imposed by China and other countries.