2nd person who detected positive for coronavirus in India sat next to first diagnosed patient, says Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said here on Sunday that the second patient from Kerala to be detected with coronavirus in India had sat next to the person who was diagnosed with the first case of the deadly virus, on the flight from China, which had brought back Indians from Wuhan.

"We have investigated the history of the second case of coronavirus. This is another student who was in touch with the first case in China itself for the last two-three days. In the flight also the second patient sat next to the first patient," said Harsh Vardhan.

This morning the state health minister said that a second case of the novel coronavirus in India was reported again from Kerala, adding that the patient was being monitored in an isolation ward in the Alappuzha medical college. She, however, said that the state government was waiting for results from the Pune Virology Institute.

The first case too had arisen from Kerala, three days ago.

The virus originated in Wuhan in December and has since then spread to various cities around the world. The confirmed cases of coronavirus in China have now surged past 14,000.

China has imposed quarantine and travel restrictions, affecting the movement of 56 million people in more than a dozen cities, amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year.

Health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a global pandemic as the virus continues to spread, with cases reported in Australia, France, the United States and seven Asian countries besides China.

Several countries including India have sped up the evacuation process after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global health crisis.

Earlier today, India evacuated 323 Indian nationals and seven Maldives citizens, from Wuhan in a special Air India flight. Earlier 324 Indians had been evacuated on Saturday too from Wuhan.