Kerala students who returned from China show no symptoms, under home quarantine

The students were stranded in an airport in China for three days after the Singapore government did not allow foreign nationals to board their airline.

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The 15 Kerala students, who recently returned to the state on Friday after being stranded in a China airport for three days, were allowed to go back to their houses as they were not showing any symptoms of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). They were discharged from Kalamassery Medical College in Ernakulam district on Saturday evening.

The group of medical students of Dalian Medical University in the Dalian Liaoning province in China were stranded in Kunming airport for three days after not being allowed to board the flight. The students were denied permission to board a Singapore Airlines flight, as the Singapore government announced that they will not allow foreign nationals to board their airlines. The students finally reached Kochi on Friday via Bangkok.

After landing in Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the Ernakulam district administration moved the students to the isolation wards in Kalamassery Medical College. After keeping the students under observation for a day, it was found that none of them had any symptoms of the disease. They were allowed to return to their homes. But the students will have to be in home-quarantine for a period of 28 days.

The health department has also sent the samples of these students to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Alappuzha. The results are expected to come out in a day.

Meanwhile, the Kerala government withdrew the ‘state disaster’ status issued in the wake of three confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state. However, 3,000 people are still under observation in the state. Of the 3,114 people who are under observation, 3,099 are under home quarantine and 45 are in hospitals as they had minor symptoms of the virus, state Health Minister KK Shailaja said.

"Till now, 330 samples have been sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, of which 288 were tested negative. We are waiting for the rest of the results," the minister told reporters.

All three positive novel coronavirus cases in India so far — reported from Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kasaragod districts — are Kerala students who are studying in China. Among the three, two are medical students of a university in Wuhan, the epicentre of nCoV.

(With inputs from PTI)