Ten people, including a health worker, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the district on Tuesday. At the same time, 12 patients, including a Kollam native, tested negative on the day.

The 52-year-old nursing assistant from Kachani was working in the COVID-19 outpatient wing of the Government Medical College Hospital here. She had visited some of her relatives, medical stores as well as an automobile workshop at Valiyakada a week ago.

She sought treatment at the family health centre at Vattiyurkavu with fever and dry cough on June 5. She tested positive on Monday.

Father hospitalised

Her 78-year-old father has also been hospitalised with various symptoms, including fever and fatigue.

Three medical students from the district who reached Kannur from Moscow on a special flight on June 1 also tested positive. Following their arrival, the youths, from Vanchiyoor, Kuttichal and Chirayinkeezhu, were shifted to an institutional quarantine facility at Varkala. Among the other cases, a 60-year-old Valiyathura native who was working as a fisherman in Dubai and a 41-year-old Poonthura native, both came from Dubai on a flight on June 2, had been in institutional quarantine.

The other patients include two men from Edava and Chenkal, who had come from Kuwait on May 28; a 41-year-old Varkala native who arrived in Kochi on a flight from Abu Dhabi on May 27; and another Edava native who came from Dubai on May 29.

Two flee from hospitals

Meanwhile, a COVID-19 patient from Anad sparked panic when he left the MCH without informing the authorities. While he tested negative for the infection twice, the 33-year-old patient’s third swab test results were awaited. He travelled to his native place on a KSRTC bus and had lunch at a restaurant in Nedumangad, official sources said. Soon after he reached his house, those in the neighbourhood alerted the police, following which he was taken to the MCH.

A Pappanamcode native, who was admitted to the General Hospital after developing symptoms of the disease, also left the hospital premises without permission of the authorities. The patient with a history of travel to Tamil Nadu was soon located by the Cantonment police.

Case registered

Both patients have been booked under provisions of the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance 2020 and the Kerala Public Health Act.

Health Minister K.K. Shyalaja ordered an inquiry into the incident in which a COVID-19 patient left the MCH premises.

District Collector Navjot Khosa, who has also sought a report from the MCH authorities, has constituted a team to identify those who came in contact with the patient.