The number of COVID-19 patients in the district went up to eight on Friday with a Non-Resident Keralite (NoRK) hailing from Oonnukal testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The 30-year-old man came to Thiruvananthapuram on an Air India flight from Dubai on May 21 and was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital there.
However, the test results of all 173 samples received on Friday were found negative for COVID-19.
A total of 29 quarantined people, including seven COVID-19 patients, remained under observation in hospitals in the district, an official bulletin here said.
As per the bulletin, four of them are at the District Hospital in Kozhencherry, 11 at the Pathanamthitta General Hospital, four at the General Hospital, Adoor, and 10 at various private hospitals.
The district’s maiden Firstline Covid Treatment Centre started functioning at the Menanthottom hospital at Ranni on Thursday. Inaugurating the centre, Raju Abraham, MLA, said firstline treatment centres were designed to treat COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms.
He said the centre had 45 bath-attached rooms with 90 beds. He said the administration was planning to open seven more such centres in the district.
6,350 persons screened
Meanwhile, the 43 surveillance squads of the Health Department screened 6,350 people for fever and other symptoms of COVID-19 at five border points on Friday.
