(Image source from: hindustantimes.com)

The second case of the novel coronavirus (nCov) infection in India has been confirmed in Kerala.

The person is identified to be a male medical student of a university in Wuhan who had returned from China recently.

The Union health ministry said in a statement that a second positive case of the Novel coronavirus has been reported in Kerala as the patient has been tested positive for the coronavirus as is currently under isolation in the hospital. The patient is said to be stable and being monitored closely.

The patient is said to be in Alappuzha in Kerala and is admitted to the isolation ward of the Government Medical College.

K K Shailaja who is the health minister of Kerala has said that the second patient who has been identified as being affected by the novel coronavirus has returned from Wuhan on 24th of January and the condition of the patient being currently stable.

She added saying that currently there are for people in the isolation ward which includes the affected person, in the Government Medical College Hospital. The other suspected case is a relative of one of them and the medical test reports of the other suspects has yet to come.

A level of alert has been raised by the government of Kerala and has set up 100 isolation wards in case of any emergency. The isolation wards have been opened in the government as well as private hospitals. The government is also planning to start awareness sessions regarding the deadly coronavirus in all the schools in the state.

The Government has suspended the e- visa facility for the Chinese and the foreigner who have been residing in China, temporarily and the citizens of India have been asked to refrain from travel to China and have also been warned that they would have been quarantined in case of travel on return from China.

The Union Health Ministry has issued a statement which said that any individual who has a travel history in China since the 15th of January 2020 and from now on could be quarantined.

India has evacuated 647 Indians and seven Maldivian citizens so far from the Wuhan city by special flights which were two flights of the jumbo B747 of Air India. The Indians have also been informed by the Indian Embassy that the Indians have to undergo health checks before boarding the flights and undergo quarantine for fourteen days in special camps after reaching India.

The first case of novel coronavirus in India has been identified from Thrissur in Kerala.

The novel coronavirus is said to be a deadly virus with has started in China. The Wuhan city of China is said to be the epicenter of the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization has identified the coronavirus as zoonotic for which no vaccine is in existence.

Zoonotic is a term that is used to describe a virus that has been transmitted through animals to the humans and is being spread from one human being to another.

By Shrithika Kushangi