Trying best to contain virus, says Kerala CM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three more patients in Kerala tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on Friday, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, taking the number of people infected by the virus in the state to 19. State health authorities were trying to find the cause of death of a Kottayam man who, they said, tested negative for the infection although he came in contact with two neighbours who tested positive.

Vijayan told reporters that an Italian tourist and two persons with a travel history in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates tested positive. He said the condition of all 19 was stable. “We are trying our best to contain the virus. We have to be more vigilant as more people are expected in coming days,” he said.

A 72-year-old man admitted in an isolation ward in Kottayam died on Friday, but state health authorities said he hadn’t tested positive and the exact cause of death will be known only after they receive a final test report from the National Institute of Virology in Pune.

The 72-year-old was the neighbour of two Covid-19 patients in Kottayam. District medical officer A N Sheeja said his test sample had tested negative at the Alappuzha virology laboratory.

His death came just a day after the Union health ministry confirmed the country’s first coronavirus-linked death in neighbouring Karnataka. Kerala was first to report three cases in the country in January but all three were discharged after they recovered.