'COVID-19 not the confirmed cause of Oman returnee's death,' says Kerala Health Minister

Amid the increasing Coronavirus cases in India, and 3 confirmed Coronavirus cases in Kerala, the State's Health Minister KK Shailaja on Saturday stated that a person who died in Thiruvananthapuram hospital after arriving from Oman is not a confirmed positive case of coronavirus.

"One person had come to Kerala from Oman yesterday and was admitted to a hospital as he had some respiratory symptoms and he died. We had collected the sample to test if there was any presence of the virus. We are waiting for the sample to come. We are not sure if it was a coronavirus case," Shailaja said while interacting with a news agency.  The Health Minister also informed that precautionary measures in the state are still up. 

As a precautionary measure, she also advised people to avoid mass gatherings like weddings. "Person with not only symptoms of coronavirus but also normal cold and cough, respiratory difficulties should avoid coming to the mass gathering. Even the occasions like wedding, cinema hall," she said.

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1 Swine Flu case reported in Kerala 

While interacting with the media, Health Minister Shailaja informed that the state has reported one case of Swine Flu. "One case of swine flu has been reported from Kallikkad. There is no need to panic as it occurs during this season. A medical team was sent there to take all the required preventive measures." Post the case of swine flu being reported, the authorities have examined all the nearby places and will continue to monitor the area.

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Coronavirus outbreak, 31 positive cases in India

Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on March 6 visited the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi to inspect the preparedness to tackle coronavirus outbreak. Harsh Vardhan visited Terminal-3 of the international airport to take stock of the arrangements made for the screening of passengers coming from the 78 countries that have reported active coronavirus cases. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it had registered 2,241 new confirmed cases of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide within the past 24 hours, with 84 people having died, which brought the total death toll to 3,282. The whole number of people, who were diagnosed with COVID-19, has reached 100,000, including 80,565 people in China. India has so far confirmed 31 positive Coronavirus cases. COVID-19 was first detected in China's Wuhan in late December and has since spread across the world. In late January, the WHO declared a global health emergency in light of the epidemic.

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(With inputs from ANI)