Eight persons, including seven who returned from abroad, were tested positive for COVID-19 in Kottayam on Tuesday. At the same time, two persons who had been under treatment for the virus infection recovered from the disease.
Of the eight persons, four including a 59-year-old man from Kollad, landed here on May 27 from Abu Dhabi by the same flight. The remaining three were identified as a 19-year-old woman from Thalayolaparambu and a 21-year-old, who flew in from Tajikistan and a 54- year-old native of Nalukodi, who landed from Dubai.
The eighth person to be tested positive was a 34-year-old woman from Mulakkulam, who landed here from New Delhi on June 3. Her husband was tested positive earlier and is undergoing treatment in Kochi. Meanwhile, the 33-day-old child of the couple has been tested negative.
With this, the total number of active cases in Kottayam has become 41 and of these, 21 are undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital here.
The persons who recovered from the disease are 25-year-old native of Melukavu and a 32- year-old from Vellavoor. Both of them were undergoing treatment at the GMC hospital.
Antibody tests
Meanwhile, the authorities here on Tuesday began collecting serum samples of 500 persons from five health blocks for conducting rapid antibody tests to ascertain if there is community transmission of the virus.
The samples are being collected randomly from persons from a list on the direction of the Health Department.
The samples are being collected from five categories of people ranging from health workers to migrant workers in Karukachal, Thalayolaparambu, Ullanad, Erumeli and Idamaruk blocks.
