Thiruvananthapuram: A positive case of Novel coronavirus has been detected in Kerala’s Thrissur district and the patient kept in an isolation ward, State health minister K K Shylaja said, as the state government scrambled to tackle the emergency.
The condition of the patient, a student from Wuhan university, was stable, Shylaja told reporters here.
The patient was in isolation ward at the general hospital in Thrissur.
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.
The union Health Ministry had 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 been tested positive. A total of 20 samples were sent for testing at National Institute of Virology in Pune, of which 10 were found negative.
But one has been found positive,” Shylaja told reporters here.
India was preparing to evacuate its citizens on Friday from China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the deadly choronavirus that has killed 170 people, infected 7,711 others and spread to at least 17 countries. India earlier requested China for permission to operate two flights to bring back its nationals from worst-affected central Hubei province. Wuhan is the provincial capital of Hubei. (Agencies)
