The Kerala government on Friday withdrew the 'state disaster' status given to Coronavirus, days after it was imposed in the wake of three positive cases in the state. "Kerala withdraws 'state disaster' status given to #Coronavirus. Alert to be continued and health guidelines to be followed," said Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja.
On February 3, the state government had declared the virus as a state disaster. Health Minister KK Shailaja had said, "Kerala today declared the n-coronavirus as a state disaster. We want to strengthen our surveillance system and precautionary measures."
"When we came to know that n-coronavirus is rampant in China, we put in place our own system to contain the virus. There are many students from Kerala in China. We expect that they will come back and the coronavirus may affect the state. We have three positive cases of coronavirus so far. The samples had been sent to the National Institute of Virology for testing. We are calling back the health officers from leave and putting in place all measures to contain the effect of this virus," Shailaja had said.
The announcement had followed after a third case of coronavirus was tested positive in Kasargod, Kerala. "Today one more case has tested positive for coronavirus from Kasaragod. The patient is under treatment at Kanjangad District Hospital in Kasaragod. The patient`s condition is stable. The student had returned from Wuhan," Shailaja had said.
India`s first confirmed case of coronavirus had been reported from Kerala a few days ago. The virus originated in Wuhan in Hubei province of China in December and since then has spread to various parts around the world. China has imposed quarantine and travel restrictions, affecting the movement of 56 million people in more than a dozen cities, amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate.
The death toll in China has increased to 637, with the total number of cases now standing at 31,211 cases.
