Third coronavirus patient tests negative, discharged from Kerala hospital

A woman medico, who was India's first novel coronavirus patient being treated at the Government Medical College hospital here was discharged on Thursday, official sources said.

The decision to discharge her from the hospital was taken by the Medical Board, which met and examined the results of the woman's samples that had tested negative for the second time, they said.

The discharge of the student marked the recovery of all three cases of infection in India reported from Kerala.

Two other students -- one from Alappuzha and another Kasaragod -- had been discharged recently after they too tested negative for the virus in fresh tests days after being infected by it.

The woman, India's first coronavirus patient had been undergoing treatment in the isolation ward of the Medical College Hospital here since her return from Wuhan in China last month.

All the three Keralites had earlier tested positive for the coronavirus on their return from Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly outbreak that has left over 2,000 people dead in China, triggering a scare in the state.

"The health condition of the third patient at Thrissur Medical College Hospital is satisfactory.  The second consecutive test result of the blood sample of the student, sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, has returned negative," Health Minister K K Shailaja had said in a release on Wednesday.

The health department has said a total of 2,242 people are under observation across the state, out of which, eight are in isolation wards of various hospitals and other under home quarantine.

The student admitted to the isolation ward of Alappuzha Medical College was discharged on February 6 while the patient from Kasargod sent home five days later.

Earlier, after the three students tested positive, the government had declared the coronavirus as a state calamity, but withdrew it after effective quarantine and no fresh cases being reported.