Eight persons, including three members of a family and a medical student from Kollam district who returned from Tajikistan, tested positive for COVID-19 in the district on Friday.

A 52-year-old autorickshaw driver hailing from Iranimuttom, Manacaud, his wife aged 42 and their 14-year-old daughter have tested positive. The driver had plied autorickshaw in Thiruvananthapuram till June 12. All the three of them have been shifted to the General Hospital.

A 19-year-old medical student from Perumpuzha in Kollam district who had returned from Tajikistan tested positive on Friday. On his return, he had been shifted to an institutional quarantine centre here.

Four Kuwait-returnees

The remaining four patients, all males, returned from Kuwait by different flights on June 12. On their arrival at the Karipur and Kochi airports, they had travelled by KSRTC buses to institutional quarantine centres in Thiruvananthapuram district.

The men belong to Varkala, Attingal, Nedumom near Kallayam, and Mukkola, near Kallayam. Swab samples had been collected from them as part of sentinel surveillance measures. With the tests returning positive, all four have been transferred to the Government Homoeo Medical College Hospital, the district administration said.

926 more in quarantine

On Friday, 926 people were placed under COVID-19 surveillance in the district, even as 518 others completed the observation period without developing symptoms. As on Friday, 19,089 people are under surveillance in the district. Of this, 17,946 persons are in home quarantine, 137 in hospitals and 1,006 in COVID Care Centres.

The City police registered cases against two persons for flouting quarantine norms on Friday.

During a police inspection, a woman, who hailed from Thuckalai, was found missing at her place of quarantine in Poonthura. It was found that she had visited the cooperative bank at Muttathara.

The second person, an Uttar Pradesh native, was reported missing by the authorities of the Government Mental Health Centre, Peroorkada, where he was quarantined. Both individuals have been charged under the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, 2020, and the Kerala Public Health Act.

So far, the City police have registered cases against 11 persons for flouting quarantine norms, District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram city) Balram Kumar Upadhyay said.

The City police also booked 11 others under the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance for violation of COVID-19 containment measures. Action was also initiated against 111 persons for failing to wear masks, Mr. Upadhyay said.

Meanwhile, 167 people, including 78 women, entered the State through the interstate border check-post at Inchivila in the district.