” About 100 Indian nurses mostly from Kerala working at Al-Hayat hospital have been tested and none except one nurse was found infected by Coronavirus. The affected nurse is being treated at Aseer National Hospital and is recovering well,” reads the tweet from Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan Thursday morning.
Al-Hayat Hospital is in Khamis Mushait, some 900 kilometers (560 miles) southwest of the capital Riyadh. The minister added that the nurses had been quarantined and tested due to the threat.
Update from @CGIJeddah : About 100 Indian nurses mostly from Kerala working at Al-Hayat hospital have been tested and none except one nurse was found infected by Corona virus. Affected nurse is being treated at Aseer National Hospital and is recovering well. @PMOIndia @MEAIndia January 23, 2020
According to Indian media, the nurse may have contracted the coronavirus while caring for a colleague from the Philippines who had tested positive. However, it is noted that neither Riyadh or Delhi have reported cases in their respective countries.
Saudi Arabia, while not responding to a request for comment by Reuters – did say on Wednesday they would begin screening passengers arriving from China, as well as take other measures following the outbreak in Wuhan, China.
The coronavirus, which can pass from person-to-person, has been reported in Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the United States. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization will decide on Thursday whether or not to declare the outbreak a global health emergency, reports the Huffington Post.
