Karnataka issues guidelines to deal with coronavirus threat amid global outbreak

Karnataka's Directorate of Health and Family Welfare Services on Thursday issued guidelines for testing, isolation, hospital admission and discharge in view of the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) in Wuhan city of China, a virus that has infected nearly 20,000 globally and has killed more than 500 in China.

According to the guidelines, the sample of any passenger, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, with a history of travel to or residence in Wuhan city of China in the last 14 days, has to be collected and tested. And the sample of any health personnel, who develops symptoms of the virus after being associated with the infected persons, has to be collected.

The circular further says that the clinical sample of any suspect/probable case of nCoV will be sent to the laboratory confirmation and the case will be kept in isolation. If tested positive, the treatment has to be provided as per the existing guidelines.

All 645 evacuated from Wuhan test negative

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said all 645 people evacuated from China's Wuhan city, who were kept in isolation at Army Base and ITBP camps, tested negative for coronavirus. It added that as of February 6, 1,38,750 passengers from 1,265 flights had been screened for the novel coronavirus but no new case was detected.

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India has so far reported three confirmed cases of Coronavirus from Kerala. Three medical students studying at the Wuhan University who returned to India recently tested positive for the virus. Besides, 510 samples were tested by ICMR network laboratories, of which all had tested negative except for the three already reported positive cases. The three cases are clinically stable, the ministry said in a statement.

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Death toll in China crosses 550

The coronavirus death toll in mainland China jumped by 73 to 563 on Thursday, its third consecutive record daily rise. Experts have intensified efforts to find a vaccine for a disease that has shut down Chinese cities and factories and could damage the world's second-largest economy. Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic, reported 70 new deaths on Wednesday and 2,987 new confirmed cases - more than 80 per cent of the total, reported by Chinese authorities.

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(with ANI inputs)