No case of coronavirus death in Kerala

TRIVANDRUM: The health authorities in Kerala on Sunday said there were no deaths from the new coronavirus in the southern state.

Kerala has had three cases of infections so far, all carriers medical students returned from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak that has already claimed more than 2900 lives.

“All of them have since ended their hospital quarantine after testing negative for the virus and are now resting at home,” KK Shylaja, the state’s health minister, said.

“A man returned from Malaysia with symptoms of pneumonia had died in hospital on Sunday while under observation. But he had tested negative for the Covid 19.”

The 32-year-old man hailing from Kannur arrived from Malaysia on February 27 and was undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kochi.

“The sample tested at the virology lab in Alappuzha here was negative. The second test at the National Institute of Virology in Pune also reported the same,” she said.

“We are now screening passengers from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran and Italy.”

She also asked those who arrived from newly affected countries after February 20 to report the health authorities and remain in home quarantine for 14 days. Those who are with suspected symptoms should report to the state-run hospitals with isolation ward facilities.

“Since the virus has spread to 54 countries, 206 people are under observation. Of them, 13 are in hospitals and others under home quarantine,” she said.

“We have so far sent 488 samples to the NIV Pune, and 471 of them tested negative. Some results are yet to come. There is no cause for worry about the hospitalised.”

Meanwhile, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan requested foreign minister S Jaishankar’s intervention to ensure the safe return of some 100 fishermen stranded in Iran.

Hundreds of fishers, the majority of them from western Gujarat state, are stranded in Iran following the coronavirus outbreak.

“It has been stated by the persons trapped in Azalur that more than 100 persons are there, out of which around 60 are from reported to be from Kerala,” he said in a letter.

“As per the prevailing situation, it is learnt that they are unable to return to India on account of Covid 19 spread.”

Earlier, junior foreign minister V Mualeedharan took to Twitter to share a statement from the Indian embassy in Tehran, with a helpline number +98-9128109115.