Kerala govt lifts 'state disaster' status to Coronavirus, alert continues

Health Minister of Kerala KK Shailaja announced that on Friday, February 7, the government has withdrawn 'state disaster' status given to novel Coronavirus. She, however, informed that the statewide alert will continue, and health guidelines have to be followed. This decision was taken after 67 out of the 72 restress have tested negative for the disease. 

Health Minister on coronavirus outbreak 

Speaking to the media KK Shailaja said, “The state disaster status was declared after 72 returnees were in Kerala from Wuhan in China of which three tested positive. About 67 have tested negative. The test results show that the close contacts of all those three confirmed cases are negative.” She further informed that the second case of n-coronavirus have been tested negative in the second round of tests, however, National Institute of Virology in Pune has to confirm the report. 

Read: Chinese nationals mourn death of whistleblower who first raised coronavirus alarm

Explaining the situation further, Shailaja said that a total of 3,014 suspected coronavirus cases are being monitored in various districts of the state. "Of these, 2,953 are under home quarantine and 61 in hospitals with symptoms. A total of 263 samples of suspected cases have been sent to National Institute Virology for examination. Of the 261 samples tested, all the results were negative," she said.

Read: Coronavirus outbreak: Visitors, delegates wear masks at Auto Expo 2020

645 evacuated from Wuhan test negative 

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that all 645 people evacuated from China's Wuhan city, who were kept in isolation at Army Base and ITBP camps, tested negative for coronavirus. It added that as of February 6, about 1,38,750 passengers from 1,265 flights had been screened for the novel coronavirus but no new case was detected. India has so far reported only three confirmed cases of Coronavirus from Kerala. 

Read: US: Robot sent for detecting coronavirus gets 'kicked out' of park for lack of permit

Three medical students studying at the Wuhan University who returned to India recently tested positive for the virus. Besides, 510 samples were tested by ICMR network laboratories, of which all had tested negative except for the three already reported positive cases. The three cases are clinically stable, the ministry said in a statement.  

(With ANI Inputs)

Read: BIG: All 645 evacuated from Wuhan by India test negative for Coronavirus, says Centre