The Health Department has launched a help desk at Kuttanellur, near here, since it has been confirmed that a British tourist who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended the Kuttanellur temple festival on March 8. The help desk is aimed at clearing people’s doubts.
It is reported that a 19-member tourist team, of which the COVID-19-positive person was a part, had danced to percussion ensembles and taken selfies with the local people at the festival. Health officials have asked people who mingled closely with the tourists to report at the control room.
Route map
More help desks have been opened at the KSRTC stand and the railway station at Irinjalakuda. The district administration is preparing the route map of the British tourists and taking precautionary measures. “People need not panic, but should take sufficient precautions,” officials said.
Before attending the festival, the team visited the Paramekkavu temple, though they did not go inside the temple.
It was the security guard at Paramekkavu temple who told them about the Kuttanellur Pooram when they asked him whether any pooram was on in the vicinity. They watched the percussion ensemble led by Peruvanam Kuttan Marar and took selfies with some local people. Many have posted videos of the tourists enjoying the pooram on social media. The Health Department is checking all these.
The tourists also visited Athirappilly and Cheruthuruthy. The Health Department has already asked the resort in which they stayed in Cheruthuruthy to close down. Around 60 people, including those who stayed in the resort and the resort workers, are under observation. The team had food from Athirappilly. The Health officials closed a bar hotel at Poovathingal, near Athirappilly, as part of security measures.
In all, 2,425 people are under observation in connection with COVID-19 preventive measures. Of them, 45 are in various hospitals. Officials say that many people who have returned from abroad refuse to maintain guidelines of home quarantine. Police help had to be taken in some cases.
Railway stations
Surveillance is continuing at railway stations. In all, 1,230 people who came from Bengaluru, Gujarat and Mumbai, have been asked to remain in home quarantine. Teams of police, health and Motor Vehicle Department officials are screening people on interstate buses.
