Kerala student from Wuhan tests positive for nCov, India’s 1st case

The condition of the woman patient, a medical student from Wuhan university, was “stable”, state Health minister KK Shailaja told reporters here. The woman, now in an isolation ward at the general hospital in Thrissur, is likely to be shifted to the Medical College Hospital there soon. Health officials were awaiting a result of one more test — Gene sequencing — only after which it can be conclusively stated that the patient was affected with the virus, the Minister said.

Three others, who had returned from China, are also in isolation wards in Thrissur, she said without giving any further details on them. The Union Health Ministry earlier in the day said a positive case of Novel coronavirus has been reported from Kerala and confirmed that the patient is a student of Wuhan University. “Of the four students who returned from China, one of them has tested positive. We have taken all precautionary measures and there was no need to panic”, Shailaja said. So far, a total of 24 samples have been sent to the

National Institute of Virology in Pune for testing and 15 of them turned out to be negative while that of the woman tested positive. Officials are yet to receive the rest of the results, the bulletin said.

Asserting that the state health network was capable of handling any emergency, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “We have initiated a series of measures to tackle the emergency; contact tracing, case isolation, quality care and community engagement are being done diligently. Care must be taken to not spread rumours over social media,” he tweeted. It was unfortunate that there was a confirmation of coronavirus in the state, but the state had earlier faced similar situations and has the experience to deal with it, he told reporters.

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday said 78 people who had arrived from coronavirus-hit China were under “house quarantine” and being monitored but asserted no positive case of the deadly virus has been detected in the State so far.