Friday, January 31, 2020

Kerala medico tests +ve for coronavirus, first in country
Woman Studying In Wuhan Now At Thrissur Hospital


TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Thrissur/Thiruvananthapuram:31`.01.2020

The first case of the new strain of a coronavirus (nCoV) in the country was reported from Thrissur, Kerala, on Thursday. A young woman studying medicine at a university in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the nCoV outbreak, has tested positive for the virus that has killed 170 people in China and has spread to other countries, including the US.

State health minister K K Shailaja said the student was hospitalised after she developed symptoms of fever and sore throat. She was quarantined, along with four others, in the isolation ward of the general hospital in Thrissur. “The student who has tested positive for the virus is stable; there is nothing to worry,” she said.



Mandatory 28-day quarantine in TN

Passengers from Wuhan arriving at Chennai and other TN airports will have to give blood samples and would be put on mandatory home quarantine for 28 days, said director of public health K Kolandaiswamy on Thursday. Kolandaiswamy said passengers will be categorised as those from Wuhan, those from other parts of China and those from Southeast Asian countries. P 2

Five students came to hospital of own volition

The five students, who had returned from Wuhan, had come to the hospital of their own volition. Three of them were shifted to Thrissur Medical College Hospital by Thursday afternoon. Swabs and blood taken from them have been sent for tests.

Meanwhile, at a high-level review meeting in Delhi, cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba decided that all those who have come from China after January 15, 2020 will be tested as the virus has an incubation period.

In Kerala, the medical college principal, Dr M A Andrews, said the three had been shifted to the hospital’s specially prepared isolation ward. Two more patients, including the student who tested positive, remain in the isolation ward. The health minister, principal secretary (health) Rajan N Khobragade and other senior health officials are expected to reach Thrissur on Thursday night.

Khobragade was informed about the case in Thrissur in a video conference with the Union cabinet secretary, the health secretary and health secretaries of all states on Thursday.

“The Union health ministry confirmed that one out of the six blood samples sent for tests to NIV Pune has tested positive. However, a gene identification result is pending. This will reaffirm the status of the case,” Khobragade said.

(With inputs from New Delhi)

Full report on www.toi.in

No comments:

Post a Comment

NEWS TODAY 22.04.2024