Third case of coronavirus tested positive in Kerala

While a third case of coronavirus infection in India was also reported from Kerala, the health authorities are not ruling out chances of more coronavirus infections in the state as around 2,000 persons were now under surveillance, of which around 75 were at hospitals with symptoms like cough and sore throat.

The third case was also confirmed on a student at Kasargod in North Kerala, who also returned from Wuhan in China recently. All the three students who were so far tested positive for coronavirus infection were known to each other and traveled from China to India on the same day. Hence they all could have got the infection from the same source, health department sources said.

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Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja Teacher informed the state Assembly about the third coronavirus infection in Kerala. She said that the condition of all three was stable and were not having any serious medical issues. The other two students were at Alappuzha and Thrissur districts. The student from Kasargod was under surveillance at the Kanhangad district hospital isolation ward.

While test results of over 50 persons were still awaited from the National Institute of Virology in Pune, coronavirus test facility began at NIV's unit at Alappuzha in Kerala from Monday. This would help avoid delay in getting the test results of corona suspects, said the health minister.

Over 2,000 persons were still under surveillance in Kerala for chances of coronavirus infection. While around 75 were at isolation wards in hospitals owing to symptoms like cough, the remaining were on home quarantine.

North Kerala districts of Malappuram and Kozhikode have the maximum number of persons under surveillance, 315 and 291 respectively, while Kasargod district close to Mangalore have about 80 under surveillance