Coronavirus: 5 patients admitted at hospitals in Kerala, 436 people under surveillance

As part of awareness against novel coronavirus (nCoV), the state health department has put 436 people under surveillance. Of these, five are admitted to hospitals with symptoms similar to that of the virus.

The remaining people are under house surveillance. According to the department, the 436 people who are being monitored had reached the state from nCoV-notified places.

Those under surveillance are suspected cases as they had shown symptoms like fever and breathing problems. A positive case is yet to be reported in the state.

As per the data, 90 people returned to the state from the affected places to Kozhikode, which is the largest. It is followed by Ernakulam and Kollam, 84 and 50, respectively.

In the case of hospitalisation, three are in Ernakulam and one each in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. Meanwhile, the patients admitted at Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha were discharged from the hospital and were put under house surveillance.

The health department which issued a nCoV guideline on Sunday said that while passenger screening has begun at Cochin International Airport, it will soon have to be extended to other notified points of entry, including the four airports- Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Kannur- and Kochi harbour.

At the same time, in case of passengers arrive in the state from adjacent airports like Chennai, Mangaluru, Bengaluru and Coimbatore by bus, train, taxi or other means, they will have to be identified promptly at the community level. For that, a convergence of health, LSG, revenue, and police departments is needed.

To ensure flawless handling of suspected nCoV cases, hospitals have been directed to follow a three-point triage to identify suspected cases and isolate them as early as possible to prevent secondary transmission.

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