A 36-year-old man who returned from Malaysia to Kerala’s Kannur with high fever and breathing problem on Friday, died on Saturday, after testing negative for Coronavirus.
Coronavirus cases in Malaysia are on a rise with around 25 confirmed cases, according to reports.
He was admitted to the government hospital after his return early on Saturday due to high fever and was kept in the isolation ward of Coronavirus due to his symptoms. Although, the test results of his blood samples for Coronavirus were found negative. Kalamassery Medical College hospital had confirmed that he was not infected with the deadly virus.
According to the doctors, he had been suffering from pneumonia for last five days and was a diabetic as well. His end came at 12.30 am due to multi organ failure, they said.
Medical authorities said his samples have been sent for detailed examination at the NiV lab at Alappuzha and awaiting the results.
He was referred to the hospital after he was diagnosed with serious health issues during a thermal screening for Coronavirus at Cochin international airport upon his arrival from Malaysia.
Ernakulam District Collector S Suhas had visited the patient at the hospital on Friday, officials said.
Three people in India who had confirmed to have the virus have been discharged from hospital after they recovered and tested negative for the Coronavirus. Groups of Indians who came from China are under quarantine, while some of them have been released after staying under observation for weeks
In India, Kerala had reported three confirmed cases of Coronavirus. All the three patients have been discharged now after recovery.
Earlier, the Kerala government declared the deadly Coronavirus epidemic as a “state calamity” last month after a third case of novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was reported from the state to take all necessary steps to ensure that the outbreak is effectively controlled.
Kerala later withdrew the “calamity” warning after it successfully restricted the virus.
An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft brought 112 people that includes 76 Indians, 23 citizens from Bangladesh, six from China, two from Myanmar and the Maldives and South Africa, the US and Madagascar. The military aircraft was sent to Wuhan on Wednesday and it carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies for Coronavirus-affected people in China.
Earlier, India had evacuated around 650 Indians from Wuhan in two Air India flights who were kept at the ITBP facility and another quarantine facility set up by the Army in Manesar near Delhi. All these people later tested negative for the virus and were allowed to go home after over a fortnight of quarantine.
Neighbouring Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed its first two cases of the novel Coronavirus as the deadly infection reached the country despite hectic efforts to keep it away.
More than 81,000 people have been infected with the virus, and 2,762 have died, with vast majority of cases in mainland China and in particular Hubei province.
After China, South Korea has emerged as the biggest center of the COVID -19 with total 1,261 cases. In Italy the number of confirmed cases has risen to 374 and 12 people have lost their lives. In Iran, 16 people have died and almost 100 cases have emerged.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation, highlighted what appeared to be a slowing in the rate of new infections inside China, where the outbreak began, as well as a number of countries that appeared to have nipped incipient outbreaks in the bud.
However, he said, “The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning. There are now cases linked to Iran in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, and Oman. There are now cases linked to Italy in Algeria, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.”
The WHO on Friday raised its global risk assessment of the novel Coronavirus to its highest level after the epidemic spread to sub-Saharan Africa.
Even the global financial markets reacted to the Coronavirus fear and slumped.
The Coronavirus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. Like SARS, it can be passed among people through the respiratory tract. The symptoms of infection include fever, cough and breathing problems.
The Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before.
This is the sixth time the WHO has declared a public health emergency of international concern after it did so during the outbreaks of H1N1 in 2009; the Ebola virus in West Africa in 2014 and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019; polio in 2014; and the Zika virus in 2016.