A driver of the Excise Department who tested positive for COVID-19 died at the Kannur Government Medical College Hospital on Thursday morning. With this, the number of deaths in the State increased to 21.
The 28-year-old resident of Belathur was working as a driver at the Excise Department in Mattanur.
District Surveillance Officer Shaj said he was admitted at the Kannur Government Medical College Hospital on 15 June. He visited a private hospital in Kannur after suffering from high fever and respiratory problems. After the driver showed symptoms of COVID-19, he was referred to the Medical College Hospital, where his samples were taken for test, he said.
Dr. Shaj said his condition was critical even when he came to the private hospital and he was suffering from pneumonia and was kept on the ventilator. However, he succumbed to the disease at 7.15 a.m on Wednesday.
It is not known how he contracted the disease. But after his test results turned positive, 18 officials at the Excise office in Mattanur were immediately asked to be in home quarantine.
Meanwhile, the Health Department also managed to trace 60 primary contacts. The officials said they were in the process of tracing all the people who might have come in contact with them.
P.K. Suresh, Deputy Excise Commissioner, said that before the driver showed symptoms for the disease, he had accompanied a team during various raids in the Mattanur limits.
The work of the Excise Department required physical contact during checks and raids and the employees were possibly at a higher risk of contracting the disease, he said. But all precautions were being taken to protect the staff.