Exactly one week after the Air India flight tragedy, two dozen key Malappuram district officers who supervised the rescue and relief operations at Karipur tested positive for COVID-19.
After District Police Chief U. Abdul Kareem tested positive on Thursday, the results of District Collector K. Gopalakrishnan came as positive on Friday.
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District Medical Officer K. Sakeena confirmed that Sub-Collector Anju K.S., Assistant Collector Vishnu Raj and 20 other officers too have tested positive for COVID-19. Among them, a few were deputy collectors and senior revenue officials.
These officers had interacted with several ministers and top officials in the wake of the Air India Express B-737 flight crash at Karipur. The list included Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, Industry Minister E.P. Jayarajan, Health Minister K.K. Shailaja, Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar, Ports Minister Kadannappalli Ramachandran, Transport Minister A.K. Sasindran, Local Administratoin Minister A.C. Moideen, Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel, Excise Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan, Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta, and Director General of Police Loknath Behra.
Dozens of people who were in the primary list of contacts have gone into self-quarantine.
COVID-19 spread in Malappuram has raised in alarming proportions with over 960 positive cases reported since Monday.
Several areas, including Kottakkal Municipality, Kondotty Municipality, Othukkungal panchayat, Pallikkal panchayat, Pulikkal panchayat, and many wards in Niramarathur, Wandoor and Chaliyar panchayats have been declared as containment zones.
