Kerala looks for 91 with virus suspect

● KERALA REPORTED three more cases of Covid–19 ● ONE OF the infected person returned from UK ● ANOTHER PERSON is a tourist from Italy ● THE THIRD person had returned from UAE

The Thiruvananthapuram district administration has launched an extensive exercise to trace the people who traveled with the person from UAE who was tested positive for Covid–19.

As many as 91 passengers were there in the fight in which the man belonging to Vellanad in Thiruvananthapuram district travelled from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram. The district authorities said of these 31 persons were in home quarantine while efforts are on to trace 60 others. Among the passengers, 10 were foreigners who are currently in Thiruvananthapuram.

The administration is preparing a route map of the infected person to get an idea about the places he had visited and people he had come in close contact with.

Meanwhile, three more cases of Covid–19 positive were reported in Kerala on Friday taking the total number of infected persons to 19. One of the infected persons returned from United Kingdom and he is a local resident. He returned on March 10 and was on home quarantines. After showing symptoms he was treated at the General Hospital here and subsequently was shifted to isolation ward of Thiruv-ananthapuram medical college. The other person is a tourist from Italy who was staying in a resort in Varkala. He too was under home quarantine. The third person, who belongs to Vellanad in Thiruvananthapuram, had returned from UAE and was under home quarantine. His preliminary test at Thiruvananthapuram medical college was found positive on

Thursday. The confirmatory test at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Alappuzha has also been found positive.

The Italian tourist who came to Thiruvananthapuram airport on February 27 and had presented suspected symptoms of Covid–19, was put on quarantine at Paripally medical college in Kollam district. He is being shifted to the isolation ward at Thiruvananthapuram medical college.

The total Covid-19 cases in Kerala stands at 22. Three students who had tested positive earlier, were treated successfully and discharged from medical college hospitals earlier. As many as 69 persons were admitted to isolation wards of medical college hospitals in the state on Friday while 5,468 persons are under monitoring.

At a press conference held after the state level review meeting, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government has decided to screen all passengers at the airport. People from foreign countries will have to comply with all the instructions. “The idea is to ensure that not even a single case is left unchecked or unscreened,” he said and added that the airport authorities had also attended the meeting.

Mr Vijayan said if detection and prevention activities are carried out effectively , the state can overcome the situation.