INS Jalashwa arrived at the Kochi port here on Sunday morning from the Maldives with 588 Indians stranded in the island country following the spread of the COVID-19 19 pandemic.
The naval ship berthed at the BTP Jetty of the Cochin Port Trust around 11.30 a.m. after entering the harbour area about 11 a.m.
This is the second trip by INS Jalashwa, which had earlier reached Kochi with 698 Indians from the Maldives on May 10. Naval vessel INS Magar too had evacuated 300 Indians stranded in the Maldives and brought to Kochi on May 12 as part of the ongoing Samudra Setu mission to evacuate Indians stranded in different parts of the world by sea.
487 Keralites
Of the 588 passengers, 487 are from Kerala. Sixty-eight of them are from Ernakulam district, 46 from Alappuzha, 23 from Idukki, 16 each from Kannur and Kasaragod, 54 from Kollam, 19 from Kottayam, 18 from Kozhikode, two from Malappuram, 35 from Palakkad, nine from Pathanamthitta, 120 from Thiruvananthapuram, 11 from Wayanad and 50 are from Thrissur, said a communication from the Public Relations Department.
Three hospitalised
Three persons who showed COVID-19 symptoms were admitted to the Karuvelippady Taluk Hospital. They hail from Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad districts.
Forty-seven others have been sent to various centres for observation, the communication added.
A communication from the Cochin Port Trust said on Sunday that it had facilitated safe transit of 1,488 Indian expatriates. The disembarkation and clearance procedures were coordinated by the Kerala Police. These included overseeing examination and clearance by Port Health Organisation and Customs and Immigration Departments.
Flight from Dubai
Meanwhile, an evacuation flight (Air India Express IX 434) from Dubai brought 181 Indians from the Gulf on Saturday night. The evacuees comprised 57 males and 124 females. Of these, 32 were children below the age of 10 and seventy of the women are pregnant.
A person with symptoms of COVID-19 and hailing from Thrissur district was admitted to the Ernakulam Medical College Hospital here. Of the others, 34 had been sent to different COVID-19 care centres while 146 had been sent to their houses but would be under observation, said a communication from the district administration here.
