Official statement on Kerala coronavirus case soon: Centre

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan here on Thursday said the Centre was making all possible efforts to deal with the coronavirus as a girl student who returned from China's Wuhan was tested positive in Kerala.

On the confirmed case in Thrissur of Kerala, the Minister said, "I have been informed about it just now. I will speak to my office, find out details, and will inform officially about it."

The Minister said everybody with the Chia travel history was being screened and it was being done on over 20 airports. "Even before the confirmed cases, we are doing our best to tackle it," the Minister said.

After the coronavirus case was confirmed on Monday, Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja called an emergency meeting to review the situation.

He said there was no need to panic. The girl was being kept in isolation in a hospital, he added.

"So far, we have sent 20 samples for testing. Of this, 10 turned negative, results of six are awaited, and one tested positive," the Kerala Minister said and added, a second gene sequence test would also be done.IANS