Two more persons, who returned to Kottayam from Abu Dhabi and Maharashtra respectively, tested positive for COVID-19 here on Friday, taking the total number of patients in the district to eight.
Health Department officials said a 25-year-old man from Melukavu, near Erattupetta, and a 32-year-old from Vellavoor tested positive for the virus. The youth from Melukavu returned from Abu Dhabi on May 18 and was undergoing institutional quarantine at a COVID care centre in Gandhinagar.
The second person, on the other hand, was in home isolation after returning from Mumbai by road on May 19. Both were shifted to Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam.
In view of the steady rise in the number of patients, the District Health Department has strengthened surveillance to ensure that the returnees strictly adhere to the quarantine guidelines. Besides the eight patients, a Thiruvananthapuram native who returned from Maharashtra is also undergoing treatment in Kottayam.
Meanwhile, 10 persons including seven returning from the Gulf countries completed their mandatory quarantine period and left the COVID isolation centre at Kothanallur here on Friday. Nine more persons, who returned from the overseas destinations earlier this month, are also set to leave the centre here on Saturday on completion of the quarantine period.
At present, as many as 708 people including 251 people from Gulf countries are staying in the 46 quarantine centres set up by the district administration here. With 52 inmates, St Alphonsa Boys Hostel in Choondacheri has the highest number people in quarantine.
.png?w=600)
