Vijayan is quarantined as cabinet officials test positive

TRIVANDRUM: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seven of his cabinet colleagues and the speaker went into quarantine on Friday ater coming to contact with two COVID-19 patients.

They include Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and ministers EP Jayarajan, KK Shylaja, AC Moideen, VS Sunil Kumar, KT Jaleel, Kadakampally Surendran and AK Saseendran.

Malappuram district collector K Gopalakrishnan and police chief U Abdul Kareem whom they met ater the Calicut airport plane crash had tested positive for the coronavirus.

A communication from the chief minister’s office said he had cancelled all his public engagements including Saturday’s Independent Day ceremony and the press briefings. Both Gopalakrishnan and Kareem are hospitalised. The chief secretary Vishwas Mehta and police chief Loknath Behera who accompanied the chief minister are in quarantine.

Two passengers on last week’s ill-fated flight from Dubai had tested positive for the virus, and one of them died.

At least 22 officials who responded to the emergency rescue operations have since tested positive for the infection.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, federal aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri and junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan had also visited the crash site.

“At the airport, I hardly had any direct contact with the officials concerned. However, I have been in self-isolation since I returned to Delhi” Muraleedharan told NDTV.

Residents who entered quarantine ater participating in the rescue operations said they had also given swab samples for testing.

“We are eight people quarantined in a house here and waiting for the test results,” Fasal Puthiyakath, one of the rescuers, told the Gulf Today.

“We could not follow the protocol as our priority was to save the maximum number of lives. We even forgot to wear masks.”

Before entering quarantine, Shailaja, the health minister, said Kerala would see a sharp rise in infections in August and September with daily cases reaching 20,000.

On Monday, it reported the highest number, 1,569, from 31,738 samples. The official death toll rose to 139 ater excluding 50 fatalities for critical comorbidities.

“Experts have opined that during August and September we may witness a surge in COVID-19 cases,” she said in a video campaign.

Meanwhile, Kerala police booked 20 cyberbullies abusing top television journalists and sought the assistance of Facebook for investigation.