Coronavirus: Five More Test Positive In Kerala, Total Count Rises To 39

Five more people from Kerala have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the pan India count to 39 on Sunday. Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja said all the five hail from state's Pathnamthitta district. The patients have been isolated in Pathnamathitta general hospital and are under observation. According to reports, three of them had returned from Italy while two others who tested positive for the virus are their relatives, the Health Minister added. 

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja: 5 more #Coronavirus cases have been reported in Pathanamthitta. We are tracing their contact history. They are under medical treatment. People coming from other countries should show responsibility&get a medical checkup done as they reach India pic.twitter.com/sigTOXcwuU

— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2020

According to the health minister, the three, a couple and their son, had evaded health screening at the airport on their return about a week ago and all the five hail from Ranni in Pathnamthitta district.

The three, who had returned from Venice, had not informed authorities that they had come back from Italy.

The health authorities came to know about the travel history of the people who returned to Italy only after two of their relatives, who were infected, had sought treatment at private with virus symptoms.

Also Read: Coronavirus: Italy To Quarantine Milan, Venice As Death Count Rises To 233

They had evaded screening at the airport and were reluctant to get admitted at the hospital initially, she said adding they had at first refused to cooperate with health officials and were forcefully admitted to the isolation ward of the Pathnamathitta general hospital and are under observation, reports news agency PTI. 

Moreover, Kerala was the first state where India's initial cases of coronavirus had been reported. All three medical students from Wuhan, have been treated and discharged from hospitals.

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On Saturday, the count had gone up to 34 with two people from Ladakh and one from Tamil Nadu testing positive for coronavirus. The two cases from Ladakh have a travel history to Iran, while the person from Tamil Nadu had visited Oman recently.

(With inputs from PTI)