Kerala man who returned from Coronavirus-hit Malaysia dies in Ernakulam hospital

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A 36-year-old man, who returned to Kerala's Cochin from Malaysia, where the cases of Coronavirus have been on rise, has died at a hospital, a day after he tested negative for the deadly coronavirus. The 36-year-old deceased man has been identified as Jainesh.

Jainesh landed at the Cochin airport on Thursday night and was rushed to the isolation ward at the Government Medical College Hospital. He had been working in Malaysia for the last three years.

Samples of Jainesh, from Payyannur in Kannur, had tested negative for the virus, which has been spreading across the world after it was first detected at a seafood market in China's Wuhan.

The man had been suffering from respiratory problems and pneumonia. He was also a diabetic, doctors said. The health department, however, has sent more samples of the man to be checked whether his death is linked to the coronavirus.

"In the preliminary investigation, we found he developed acute pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome. We also understood that he was diabetic. Blood sugar can flare up when there is an acute infection," HT quoted Dr Ganesh Mohanan, a senior doctor of the Government Medical College Hospital as saying.

Three people in India are confirmed to have got the virus. Groups of Indians who came from China are under quarantine, while some of them have been released after staying under observation for weeks.

Meanwhile, 17 people in the district have been put under observation. Five of the samples were sent to the NIV laboratory in Alappuzha for testing.

The World Health Organisation on Friday raised its global risk assessment of the new coronavirus to its highest level after the epidemic spread to sub-Saharan Africa and financial markets slumped. Coronavirus death toll in China climbed to 2,870 with 35 new deaths, while the confirmed cases increased to 79,824.

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