india

Updated: Feb 03, 2020 10:05 IST

A couple in Rajasthan’s Ajmer, who returned from China on January 28, has been kept in isolation in a hospital after they complained of cold and cough as India mounted efforts to tackle the fast-moving coronavirus, which has killed hundreds in China.

“Their samples being sent to Jaipur. A team will be sent to screen their family too,” a district health officer was quoted as saying by ANI.

Three people, who were admitted to a government hospital in the state capital of Jaipur on Saturday, have tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

“All three have tested negative for coronavirus,” the superintendent of SMS Hospital, Dr DS Meena, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

India’s second case of coronavirus was detected in Kerala’s Alapuzha on Sunday prompting authorities to put the state on high alert. The first coronavirus case was reported in Thrissur last Thursday.

Both the patients are medical students from in Hubei province’s Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

At least 56 people died of the novel coronavirus on Sunday pushing the death toll from the outbreak to 361, health authorities have said.

The worst-hit Hubei province recorded more than 2100 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the central Chinese province to over 16,600.

More than 2800 new cases were reported nationwide. China now has at least 17,205 confirmed cases of the virus across the country.