The district administration has released the travel history and contact tracing details of two people who had tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
The patient known as ‘R2’ took a flight on March 10 from London to Bahrain, from where he took a Gulf Air flight (Flight no – GF0060) on the same day to Thiruvananthapuram. After landing at the international airport here at 5 a.m., he travelled in a car with his brother-in-law, sister-in-law and father-in-law to their flat in Kaithamukku.
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At 8 a.m. on March 11, he travelled in the family’s car to the General Hospital. From the parking area, he walked to the OP ticket counter and from there to the COVID 19 OP waiting area. After swab tests, he hailed an auto rickshaw (KL-01 CB 4026) at 10.30 a.m. and headed to Kaithamukku. He stopped at a shop opposite the Kaithamukku Co-operative Bank to drink lime juice. On not getting the same in the first shop, he headed to the next one, from where he drank the juice. In both these shops, he stood outside, and hence did not come into close contact with the shopkeepers, said District Collector S.Gopalakrishnan.
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He went inside the flat at 10.45 a.m. Till his test results came on Friday evening, he was in home quarantine, but was in close contact with the other family members, eating at the same dining table and sharing the phone. A total of seven persons, including the three family members, have been identified as primary contacts and quarantined.
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“One thing we noticed in the case of people who were in home quarantine is that they were not fully in quarantine within their homes. They were in close contact with their family members. This should be avoided. The person who is suspected of being affected should spend the entire duration within a closed room. Food or other essential items should be left at the door. Real home quarantine is the best solution,” said the Collector.
In his flight, there were 69 passengers. Of them, 21 are from Tamil Nadu, 15 from Thiruvananthapuram, 15 from Kollam, nine from Alappuzha, eight from Pathanamthitta and 1 from Malappuram. Seven of them are foreigners. Thirty seven of the passengers have been identified as high-risk contacts, within three rows of his seat. The district administration is in the process of contacting them, with 70% of them being contacted till now.
Regarding the third patient, an Italian national, who has been staying in Varkala, only about 70% of the contact tracing has been completed. He took a flight from Venice to Moscow on February 26. The next day, he took a flight to Delhi, reaching there at 4.25 a.m. From there, he took a Vistara flight (UK 897) to Thiruvananthapuram, arriving here at 10.25 a.m. on February 27. Since it was a domestic flight, only passenger names are available as of now. The district administration is in touch with the Vistara officials to get more details, said the Collector.
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From that day, he has been staying in a beach resort in Varkala. As a regular visitor to the beach town, he is familiar with several shopkeepers here. He had visited shops and restaurants in this area over the period. These details are still being gathered. He developed symptoms on March 10.
Along with his friend, a Kashmiri native running a jewellery shop in Varkala, he went to the Government Hospital in Parippally in an autorickshaw. As per directions from there, they went separately to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. Since the test results were confirmed on Friday, he has been in isolation in the hospital. Although there are rumours of him visiting a local festival in Varkala, this has not been confirmed yet. Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that the patient is co-operative, but he is not very conversant in English and understanding the accent has been a problem for both sides.
The district administration also released the travel history and contact tracing details of the Vellanad native who had tested positive two days back.
