As China's Coronavirus count crosses 7,000, Chandrababu Naidu writes to EAM Jaishankar

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday wrote a letter to the Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar seeking help to bring back 58 Telegu employees stranded in Wuhan city of China due to the outbreak of Coronavirus. Drawing Jaishankar's attention "particularly" to 58 trainee employees stranded in Wuhan, Naidu requested him to make all efforts in his power and capacity to bring them home safely. 

"Telegu people would always remember your efforts in bringing back 20 fishermen languishing in Pakistan prison. In this same vein, I pray that the 58-trainees along with other Telegu and Indians caught in Wuhan, China are brought back home in a safe and healthy manner," the letter read. The former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister also posted a copy of the letter on his Twitter account. 

After the first case of Coronavirus was confirmed in India, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said that the government has been putting all its might into dealing with the threat. 

'The whole government is doing its best'

"Even before the case was detected, we were doing our best. If there is a positive case, we will treat them. I have been informed about one positive case and I will go to the office and find about it. The whole government is doing its best to ensure no case comes positive,"had said Harsh Vardhan.

'The patient is stable and is being closely monitored'

In a statement, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of India said the student is from Kerala. "The patient has tested positive for novel coronavirus and is in isolation in the hospital. The patient is stable and is being closely monitored," the statement said. The 2019-novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic that has concerned health experts world over started in China's Wuhan city early December last year and has so far claimed more than 170 lives.

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Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said 20 samples were sent for tests out of which one was found to be positive for novel coronavirus. "The patient had returned from Wuhan in China and is now kept in isolation at General Hospital in Thrissur. She is stable," the minister said. The health minister said the government has already set up a control room.

In Kerala, one person each from Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, and Malappuram and three from Ernakulam district have been kept in isolation wards of various health centres, news agency PTI reported.  As a precautionary measure, health authorities in India have placed many people under medical watch. Various airports in the country have started screening passengers arriving from China for symptoms of coronavirus infection.

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(With agency inputs)