Kerala to launch awareness campaign after positive case of novel coronavirus detected

Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja held a high-level meeting at the medical college hospital here on Thursday midnight to take stock of the situation after a positive case of novel coronavirus was detected in the state and the patient was kept in an isolation ward.

Shailaja, who met the media after the meeting, said an awareness campaign would be launched among people to identify the possible infection and that the health department had alerted all district authorities.

"The condition of the female medical college student from Wuhan University, who has been tested positive for the virus, is stable and she will remain in the isolation ward of the general hospital. The medical college here is well equipped (to deal with such cases)," the minister said.

Kerala ministers hailing from the district -- A C Moideen, C Raveendranath and V S Sunil Kumar -- also participated in the meeting along with senior officials of the health department.

The health minister said a meeting with representatives of private hospitals have been convened at 11 am on January 31.

"We need to create awareness among the people. Strong action will be taken in case anyone attempts to spread any fake news. We will hold high-level meetings every day and issue medical bulletin with updates," the minister said.

The medical college here has been upgraded with a special isolation ward with full facilities to treat at least 24 patients at a time.

At least, 1,053 people are under observation in the state as the Left Democratic Front government scrambled for tackling the emergency.

"Of the four students who returned from China, one of them has been tested positive. We have taken all precautionary measures and there was no need to panic," Shailaja had said earlier.