THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/NEW DELHI: Hours after Kerala reported India’s first confirmed case of novel coronavirus, the Centre on Thursday decided to test all individuals who returned from China after January 15, for possible infection.
The condition of the victim, a female medical student in China’s Wuhan, is stable. The diagnosis was confirmed by the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.
The student initially underwent treatment at the Thrissur General Hospital, from where she was shifted to the Thrissur Medical College. Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said there was no need to panic as the state had started precaution and preparation since the start of the China outbreak.
"The patient had symptoms of cold and cough and given the travel history, necessary tests were carried out on the samples collected," Union health secretary Preeti Sudan told this newspaper.
"The person is being closely monitored in an isolation ward of a hospital," Sudan said, adding the government has decided to test all those who have returned from China, irrespective of whether or not they have symptoms, as the incubation period of the infection is nearly 28 days. "We do not want to take a chance," she added.
Officials in NIV, Pune said the confirmation in the case came through matching of the genome sequence of the virus shared by China. "We carried out the test following two testing protocols. Both confirmed the presence of the virus," they added. A third test known as "next gen sequencing test" will be done on the sample and the final result will be declared by Friday.
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