Eight more people tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in Kerala on Tuesday, taking the total number of positive cases reported in the State in the second wave of the disease to 14.
Of the eight positive cases, six belong to the COVID-19 cluster that originated in Pathanamthitta district, all of which are linked to the family that arrived from Italy on February 29.
The other two cases are that of the parents of the three-year-old boy who tested positive earlier and is already in isolation at the Government Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam. This family too came from Italy but they landed at Kochi only on March 8.
The COVID-19 cluster at Pathanamthitta initially included the three-member family from Italy and two of their immediate relatives staying next door. All are already isolated at General Hospital, Pathanamthitta.
On Tuesday, the cluster further expanded as the daughter of the family and her husband (both who received the family at the airport), the two grandparents and two friends of the family also turned out to be COVID-19 positive.
These persons are now isolated at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, and District Hospital, Kozhencherry.
Condition stable
Health Minister K.K. Shylaja told mediapersons that while the health status of all patients is stable and satisfactory, the condition of the two elderly patients is indeed a cause for concern as they suffer from other geriatric morbidities.
The Health Department currently has 1,495 persons under surveillance in various districts, of whom 259 persons are in isolation in various hospitals with mild or moderate symptoms of respiratory illness. The rest (1,236 persons) are on monitored self- quarantine in their own homes.
Contact-tracing on
Ms. Shylaja said the contact tracing exercise linked to the family at Pathanamthitta is progressing meticulously and that in the past two days various teams deployed by the department have managed to trace a majority of persons with whom the family members might have come into contact.
The attempt is to limit the community spread by finding the maximum number of contacts and putting them under quarantine. Details of the flight co-passengers of the family at Kochi are being collected.
In an attempt to expedite testing of samples, the government has now sought permission for the SARS CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID-19) PCR tests to be done at Government Medical College, Thrissur, State Public Health laboratory and at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology also. This is apart from the testing facilities currently made available at the National Institute of Virology unit at Alappuzha and the medical colleges in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.
Support services
Ms. Shylaja said the mental health teams of the Health Department are already in touch with the patients in isolation and the families on home quarantine and are giving the necessary support services. The local self-governments have been asked to seek the service of volunteers to lend assistance to the families who are home-bound because of the 28-day quarantine norm imposed by the State.
