An official at the Calicut International Airport and a health worker were among the 12 persons tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Kozhikode district on Saturday. Two others were cured of the infection too.
According to a release by District Medical Officer V. Jayasree, the official is a 26-year-old native of Kuthiravattom. It is learnt that a number of senior officials at the airport, including its director, have been asked to go on quarantine as the patient is believed to have interacted with them. The health worker is a 26-year-old man from Kakkodi, who was working in Malappuram. Both are right now at the Government Medical College, Manjeri, Malappuram.
Among the other patients, three had returned from Kuwait, two from Dubai, and one each from Russia, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The number of active COVID-19 cases rose to 89. Apart from this, one person from Kannur is undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode. One each from Malappuram, Wayanad, and Kannur are at the first-line treatment centre at the Lakshadweep Guest House. Those cured of the infection, a 55-year-old person from Omassery, and a 42-year-old person from Atholy, were at the first-line treatment centre.
The number of people under observation rose to 11,365, of whom 3,703 are expatriates.
Four cases in Thrissur
Four COVID-19 cases were reported in Thrissur district on Saturday.
They include a 37-year-old man of Pukkode who arrived from Qatar on June 5; a 42-year-old woman who arrived from Bahrain on June 1; a 48-year-old man of Kunnamkulam who arrived from Rajasthan on June 4; and a 26-year-old man of Chelakkara who arrived from Riyadh.
In all, 152 persons are now undergoing treatment in hospitals. Ten persons from the district are undergoing treatment in hospitals in other districts. A total of 12,635 persons are under observation.
Meanwhile, 19 COVID patients from Thrissur Medical College Hospital were shifted to Chest Hospital on Saturday after their conditions improved. However, their treatment will be held under the guidance of the Medical College Hospital.
Entry curbs
Strict restrictions on employees and the general public have been imposed at the offices at the Civil Station, including the district collectorate, in the wake of the spurt in COVID-19 cases in Thrissur district.
Only half the number of the staff will attend the office on a single day. Entry to the offices will be restricted with identity cards. Visitors will be allowed into the offices only in emergency cases.
The public should avoid visiting the offices and may contact officials on email (tcrcoll.ker@nic.in) or WhatsApp (9400044644) or phone (0487-2360130). The details of visitors will be entered in a register.
A thermal scanning facility has been arranged on the ground floor. Visitors’ vehicles should be parked in the parking area near the exit gate.
Entry for the public has been restricted at the Thrissur Corporation office too after four sanitation workers were tested positive for the virus.
One case in Wayanad
One more person who returned from Maharashtra tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Wayanad district on Saturday.
The 24-year-old man from Makkiyad near Vellamunda in the district had been institutionally quarantined at a COVID centre at Makkiyad after he reached the district on June 1.
He has been shifted to District Hospital, Mananthavady.
(With inputs from Thrissur and Wayanad bureaus)