India's second confirmed coronavirus case reported in Kerala

India’s second positive case of coronavirus has been reported from Kerala, on Sunday (February 2).

According to ANI, the patient was among those evacuated on an Air India flight, who had returned from China. The patient has been kept in an isolation ward at the Government Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha, Kerala. Her condition was stated to be stable.

Update on #NovelCoronavirus :
Second positive case of #nCov has been reported in #Kerala. The patient has a travel history from #China.
The patient is in isolation in the hospital, is stable & being closely monitored.@PMOIndia@drharshvardhan @AshwiniKChoubey @PIB_India @ANI pic.twitter.com/xtKj1IjcEy

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) February 2, 2020

Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja said the government was expecting a report from the National Institute of Virology, Pune. She said the Centre had informed the state that the ‘chances of the patient having contracted coronavirus were very high.’ She also said that the preliminary ‘investigations’ pointed to coronavirus.

“The patient has minor symptoms. But we are not taking any chances. We have taken proper precautions even though we have not received any confirmation. We expect the results by evening,” she said.

Kerala Health Min KK Shailaja: The patient has been admitted&undergoing treatment at Alappuzha Medical College. We haven't got report from National Institute of Virology, Pune. There are chances that it is positive but we can confirm it only after getting the report. #CoronaVirus https://t.co/8rCRTAQ531 pic.twitter.com/5zukw7vqUV

— ANI (@ANI) February 2, 2020

This comes three days after the southern state reported country’s first case. The patient was a student of Wuhan University. Health authorities in Kerala on January 31 shifted a female student from the general hospital to the Government Medical College here, official sources said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said all precautions had been taken by the Health Department and there was no reason for panic. He said people should not fall prey to false propaganda and urged social media users to desist from spreading baseless and panicky messages.

Till date, 1,793 people who traveled from coronavirus affected countries have been identified and placed under surveillance in Kerala. Of this, 70 people have been admitted in selected isolation facilities and 1723 are under home isolation, a medical bulletin said.

(With inputs from agencies)