Coronavirus pandemic: 1 year on, Lakshadweep reports first Coronavirus patient

Now Lakshadweep reports its first Coronavirus case! The Union Territory of Lakshadweep, which had not reported even a single confirmed case of Coronavirus, has reported its first case of the lethal infection on Monday, news agency PTI reported. It is worth noting that the course of Coronavirus pandemic in the country has continued for almost a year but not a single case of Coronavirus had been reported in the sparsely populated islands. The first case of coronavirus infection was reported to a personnel of the India Reserve Battalion who had come to the island’s capital Kavaratti from Kochi on January 3. The India Reserve Battalion personnel who tested positive on Monday however is not a resident of the islands.

Soon after the samples tested positive, the administration contacted all the primary and secondary contacts of the patient to quarantine themselves. The authorities also collected samples from the immediate contact of the personnel and sent them to the laboratory for Coronavirus test. The emergence of the first case of Coronavirus also forced the UT administration to re-impose the Covid-19 guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure which it had recently done away with.

The Lakshadweep administration had lifted the mandatory quarantine guidelines for the people arriving at the islands from Kochi about two weeks ago. Since the man who tested positive had arrived at the islands on a ship, the administration has also stopped the movement of all inter-island ships entering in the islands so as to deter the spread of the disease.

The administration of the Union Territory has said that all visitors arriving at the islands will need to produce a Covid-19 negative test RT-PCR report obtained not before 48 hours before the start of the travel. Lakshadweep islands is one of the most exotic and attractive tourist destinations wooing tourists from across the country.