Second Coronavirus Patient Discharged in Kerala After Two Consecutive Negative Tests

Thiruvananthapuram: In further relief to Kerala, a student treated for the novel coronavirus in the state was discharged on Sunday after two consecutive test results returned negative, becoming India's second patient to recover from the infection, health authorities said.

The patient from Kasaragod, one of the three positive cases of coronavirus detected in the country on their return from China, would, however, remain under home quarantine for ten days, the state health department said.

"Two consecutive results of the patient came negative and was then discharged today morning. The patient will have to remain under home quarantine for ten more days," a senior health official told PTI.

More than 2,000 people are still under observation for the novel coronavirus in the state, which had accounted for all three positive cases in the country.

Earlier on Thursday, a student from Alappuzha was discharged after his two consecutive samples sent for testing at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune turned out to be negative.

India's first coronavirus case, a woman medico from Thrissur, is awaiting test results from Pune NIV after samples screened at the Alappuzha centre of the institute had returned negative last week.

"Now, we are waiting for the test result of the student admitted to Thrissur Medical College Hospital. Once the negative result is received, we can proceed to discharge," the official said.

Both the discharged students, studying in a university in Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly virus that has claimed over 1,600 lives in China, had earlier tested positive for the infection and were treated in isolation wards set up in medical college hospitals in Alappuzha and Kasaragod.

Of the 2,210 people under surveillance in various districts, as many as 16 were in isolation wards in hospitals and the remaining 2,194 are in home quarantine, Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a release on Sunday.

Of the 415 samples sent for testing at the NIV in Pune, a total of 396 turned out to be negative and the results of the remaining were awaited, the release, quoting the Minister, said.

Earlier, after the three students tested positive, the government had declared the coronavirus as a state calamity, but withdrew it after effective quarantine and no fresh cases were reported.