Three-year-old child in Kochi tests positive for novel coronavirus
A testing facility for detection of novel coronavirus was unveiled in a government-run medical research unit in Bhubaneshwar, though no positive case of the disease has been found so far in Odisha, a senior official said. The coronavirus testing facility is now available in the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), and the first sample has already been tested at the institute, which was found to be negative, health department’s secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal said.
As many as 131 persons have been put under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) so far, he said, adding that 10 of them are admitted to three hospitals. Their samples were tested negative, Dhal said. He also said samples of suspected coronavirus cases from private and government hospitals and AIIMS will be sent to RMRC here for testing. While isolation wards with ventilator support have been created at major medical college and hospitals and the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneshwar, screening of all passengers is being done at airports and ports, the official said. The authorities of private hospitals were also asked to create isolation facilities, he said. Besides, workplace advisory has been issued to all government departments and corporates and other institutes.
Meanwhile, a three-year-old child has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said in Kochi. The child and its parents who had reached the Cochin International Airport Limited at 6 am on March 7 from Italy were subjected to thermal screening at the universal surveillance system established, officials said. Detecting symptoms of coronavirus in the child, they were immediately referred to the isolation ward of the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital, they said. The samples of the child sent for examination at the NiV lab at Alappuzha have tested positive for Coronavirus, they said. The samples of the parents have also been sent for a lab test, the officials added. Five fresh coronavirus cases, including three who evaded screening on return from Italy, were reported in Kerala, prompting the government to sound a renewed alert and warn action against those hiding travel history to affected nations
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