Kerala woman student's fresh test result comes out negative for coronavirus

In a sign of relief to Kerala, India's first novel coronavirus patient has tested negative for the infection in fresh test at the National Institute of Virology's local centre in the state, health officials said.

However, an official announcement on the 'recovery' of the patient, a woman medical student from Thrissur, would be made only after her blood test result from NIV at Pune confirm the findings of the Alappuzha centre, they said Monday night.

The condition of the student was "stable", the officials said.

She had tested positive for the virus on her return from Wuhan in China recently and been undergoing treatment in the isolation ward of a government medical hospital.

According to the state health department, a total of 31 people with symptoms of the coronavirus are in isolation wards across various hospitals in the state as of now.

"The blood test result of the first patient from Thrissur from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) testing centre at Alappuzha shows a negative result. But we need confirmation from the NIV at Pune," a senior medical officer told PTI.

Besides the woman, two other Keralite students from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus that has claimed over 1,000 lives in China, had tested positive in Alappuzha and Kasaragod districts.

"A total of 3,367 are under observation across the state, of which 3,336 are under home quarantine," a release issued by the health department said on Monday.

The department has already sent at least 364 samples for testing at the NIV at Pune and so far 337 results have returned negative.

The 'state calamity' alert, declared by the government on February 3 after the third student tested positive for the virus, was withdrawn on Friday with no fresh cases of the infection being detected.