India reports second coronavirus case in Kerala, patient stable

The government on Sunday reported India's second case of coronavirus in Kerala, three days after the southern state reported country's first case.

The patient has a “travel history from China” and has been isolated in a hospital, said the Union Health Ministry in a statement. The patient is stable and has been kept in isolation. 

However, the Kerala government said the state was awaiting the results from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune.

"We have been informed telephonically by NIV Pune that there is a possibility of another positive case. But since there is a possibility we have to be extremely vigilant. We are yet to receive the results. The suspected case is of a student of Wuhan university," state Health Minister K K Shailaja told the media in Kollam.

She said the student, who had returned from China on January 24, and currently at an isolation ward in Alappuzha Medical College Hospital, was being closely monitored and the condition of the patient is stable."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.

India's first case was reported from Thrissur in Kerala with a student testing positive. 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. 

China’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak reached 304 as of the end of Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday. The country’s new confirmed infections from the outbreak increased by a daily record, up by 2,590 cases on Saturday to top 14,000, as the quickly growing epidemic prompted global travel restrictions and evacuations.

(With inputs from PTI in Thiruvananthapuram)