First Case Of The New Coronavirus Confirmed In India

A female student from Wuhan University in China tested positive for the new coronavirus in Kerala&rsquos Thrissur district yesterday. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare confirmed in a statement that the student is in isolation and stable, and over 1,000 people are under observation in the state.

Currently, five doctors and a paramedical officer are on-board an Air India flight on its way to airlift Indian nationals from the Hubei province in China, where the virus first broke out.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has directed arrangements to be made to screen passengers arriving from China and Hong Kong to India in major airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi. These measures include in-flight announcements on flights coming in from China asking passengers to self-declare any illnesses in the past 14 days, self-reporting forms in all airlines, bold signage displayed in the airports, and thermal screening of passengers at the pre-immigration area before the immigration check.

The virus seems to have originated from a food market in Wuhan selling illegal wildlife&mdashprobably from bats to humans, transmitted through other animals.

This new virus&mdashidentified as 2019-nCoV&mdashis in the family of viruses that include the common cold and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The symptoms include fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. The possibly fatal virus can also cause pneumonia.