Kerala, which reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 infection in India earlier this year, has detected a patient suffering from a new type of malaria. 

State Health Minister KK Shailaja informed that a soldier, who had returned after serving in Sudan, has been detected with ‘plasmodium oval, a new genus of malaria’.

The person is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kannur, she said. The minister added that the spread of the disease can be controlled by timely preventive measures.

Plasmodium oval, a new genus of malaria detected in Kerala. It was found in a soldier who was being treated at District hospital in Kannur. The soldier had come from Sudan. Its spread can be avoided with timely treatment and preventive measures,” Shailaja said in her tweet. 

Notably, the first case of COVID-19 in the country was detected in Kerala. A student who had returned to Thrissur from China’s Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly disease, was found to infected with novel coronavirus.

In 2018, Nipah virus outbreak was reported first from Kerala’s Kozhikode. 

The south Indian state has recorded nearly 6.50 lakh COVID-19 cases so far and the death toll is over 2,500.