Alappuzha: India reported Sunday a second case of novel coronavirus with another person from Kerala, who recently returned from China, testing positive for the infection. Close to 2,000 people who had travelled to China and other affected countries are under observation in Kerala.
Most of them are under home quarantine with only 75 kept in isolation wards in different hospitals, a medical bulletin said.
The condition of both patients tested positive for the virus was stated to be ‘stable’ and not serious, officials said. The second patient is also a student from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the epidemic. The patient had returned January 24 to Kerala, the state government said.
The country’s first novel coronavirus case was reported Thursday from Thrissur with a woman medical student who returned from Wuhan testing positive for the infection.
Confirming the second case, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said the condition of the student, currently admitted to the isolation ward at the Alapuzha Medical College Hospital, is ‘stable’.
Earlier in the day, the minister said in Kollam that the government was awaiting the results of tests conducted on the patient from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.
“Now, we have got the test report of the patient. There is a positive case in Alapuzha,” Shailaja told reporters here Sunday evening after chairing a high-level meeting with senior health department officials.
“We are trying to ensure that the virus does not spread. The two patients, who have tested positive for the virus, are stable. Their condition is not serious. But we are monitoring them closely,” the minister added.
PTI
