Kerala lifts coronavirus 'state calamity' alert

The Kerala government on Friday withdrew the 'state calamity' warning issued in the wake of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) scare as no new positive cases of infection were detected over the last few days, even as over 3,000 people are still under observation.

State health minister K K Shailaja said of the 3,014 people under watch, 2,953 were home quarantined and 61 in hospitals due to minor symptoms of the virus.

"We have received the result of the repeat sample of the positive patient in Alappuzha, which was sent for retesting at the National Institute of Virology in Pune. It came out negative," Shailaja told reporters.

"Considering all these circumstances, the government has decided to withdraw the 'state calamity' alert," she added.

However, she said that it does not mean that we are lowering our guard.

"The (28-day) quarantine period will continue. Those who come from the affected areas will still have to report to health officials," Shailaja told reporters.

The state had on February 3 declared the novel coronavirus epidemic as a "state calamity" with a third student testing positive for the infection.

India's all three positive coronavirus cases so far -- reported from Thrissur, Alappuzuha and Kasaragod districts -- are Keralite students, two of them medicos, of a university at Wuhan, the epicentre of the nCoV.

Shailaja on Friday said the department had earlier identified those who came into close contact with the three and all their samples tested negative.

"Of the samples of the 72 Wuhan-returnees, including the three positive cases, 67 came out negative and results of two more are pending," the minister said.

The test results of of those Keralites who are staying in Delhi camps also came out negative, she added.