Coronavirus-infected Kerala girl's condition reported stable; more results pending

While the first case of coronavirus infection in India was confirmed on a Malayali girl who recently returned from Wuhan in China, about 250 more people were kept under surveillance in Kerala on Thursday taking the total number of people under surveillance against Coronavirus in the state to 1053.

Of this, 15 were kept in hospital isolation wards owing to symptoms like sore throat and cough and the remaining were kept under surveillance at their homes. Test results of five were still pending.

The coronavirus infected girl, who is a student in Wuhan, has been kept at the isolation ward at the Thrissur general hospital in Kerala over the last few days.

Kerala Health Minister K K Shylaja said that the condition of the infected girl was stable. She is likely to be shifted to the Thrissur medical college hospital where isolation wards were set up. The treatment protocols were being decided in consultation with experts.

The girl had reported with a sore throat a few days back after returning from Wuhan. Hence she was kept in isolation ward. Preliminary tests at the National Institute of Virology in Pune found coronavirus infection on the girl and further test result was awaited. Three more students who returned from Wuhan were also kept in isolation ward of the same hospital and their test results were still awaited, apart from two others under surveillance.

Health department officials said that a contact list of all people who got in touch with the infected person over the last few weeks was being prepared. Since she traveled from China to Kerala, her contact list would be including persons from other states and countries. Hence the centre would be also preparing the contact list for screening purposes. At least 14 to 28 days surveillance would be required.

Kerala Chief Minister Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan said that even as there was no panic situation now, those who recently visited any of the coronavirus hit countries should undergo medical screening, he said.

The Health Minister urged the people not to be carried away by misleading information, especially from social media. The health department also opened control room for assisting the people.

Kerala, which managed to contain the spread of Nipah in 2018 and 2019, had initiated surveillance against coronavirus from January 22 with screening passengers from coronavirus infected countries at airports. Scores of Malayali students from China who returned to Kerala over the last few weeks were also kept under surveillance, while many more were reportedly stranded in Wuhan even now.