First coronavirus case in the country reported from Kerala

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Photo for representation only.

New Delhi, January 29 : The first confirmed case of novel coronavirus in India was reported in Kerala on Thursday. 

The patient is a student at Wuhan University, China. 

“The patient has tested positive for Novel Coronavirus and is in isolation in the hospital,” according to a government press release. 

The patient is stable and is being closely monitored, it said.

Several people across the country are under observation for suspected exposure to the virus. 

At least 27 persons are under observation in Maharashtra and as a precautionary measure 10 of them have been quarantined—six at Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai, three at Pune’s Naidu Hospital and another at a hospital in Nanded.

Novel coronavirus belongs to the coronavirus family that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes. It has emerged from a seafood and animal market in Wuhan city of China and is suspected to have spread as far as the United States.