Five more persons admitted to RML hospital for possible exposure to novel coronavirus

Five more persons -- four men and one woman -- have been admitted to the Centre-run RML hospital for a possible exposure to novel coronavirus which has killed 170 people in China and is spreading worldwide.

India reported its first case of novel Coronavirus in Kerala on Thursday and the patient has been kept in an isolation ward, the Union health ministry said.

A female medical student of a university in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, has tested positive for the virus. She is stable and is being monitored closely, it said.

The government has stepped up its efforts to detect and prevent the spread of the virus that has killed at least 170 people and infected more that 7,700 in China and has spread to at least 17 countries already.

The government will evacuate Indians on Friday from Wuhan city.

All five persons self-reported to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, designated to deal with such cases, with respiratory problems and fever, hospital sources said.

One of them came Wednesday night while the remaining four self-reported to the facility on Thursday, they said, adding they are being observed at the isolation ward of