After the first COVID-19 case was detected in Kannur, the Health Department has identified 15 persons who were in primary contact with the patient.
On Thursday, the 44-year-old man from Peringome, who returned from Dubai, was tested positive for COVID-19, a week after he arrived here.
A driver in Dubai, he reached Kannur via Kozhikode airport on March 5. Though he had common cold then, he developed fever on March 7, following which he was taken to Government Medical College, Kannur, where his body fluids were collected. He was also advised home quarantine.
After testing positive for COVID-19, he was shifted to the isolation ward of the Pariyaram medical college. His condition is at present stable, District Collector T.V. Subhash said here on Friday.
The Collector said the district administration was in the process of identifying those who were in primary and secondary contacts with the affected person.
As many as 15 persons who were in primary contact with the patient have been identified so far. Of them, three persons, including the mother, wife and son of the patient, have been admitted to the isolation ward.
The remaining contacts, including the patient’s friends, the taxi driver who drove him from the airport, his uncle, the doctor who attended to him first, and another relative, have been put under home quarantine, he added.
The Collector said the administration was preparing a list of secondary contacts, and that it would be released soon. The Health Department has prepared a route map of places visited by the affected patient.
According to Mr. Subhash, there are 23 suspected cases in various hospitals, including 19 at Kannur Medical College and four at the Kannur Government Hospital. Around 200 persons have been put under home quarantine, he noted.
Meanwhile, two medical boards have been constituted under District Medical Officer Narayana Nayak to tackle the spread of the virus, the Collector said, adding that the situation was under control, and that people need not panic.
