COVID-19: 42 passengers from Italy quarantined in Kochi hospitals

All arrived on Wednesday morning by Qatar Airways which came via Doha

People wear protective masks outside a Special Isolation Ward set up to provide treatment to novel coronavirus patients, at Kochi Medical College, in Kochi, Tuesday, March 10, 2020.

In the wake of COVID-19 cases being widely reported, nine out of the 42 people who arrived from Italy on Wednesday morning have been referred to the Government Medical College, Ernakulam, while the remaining 33 people have been isolated at the Aluva district hospital.

All were passengers of the Qatar Airways which came from Italy to Kochi via Doha.

Those in Aluva do not have any symptoms so far, but they will be in the hospital till investigations from the Virology laboratory in Alappuzha are received.

If negative, they will be sent home but will be under quarantine till the specified time period.

The hospital has 10 pay wards in which the 33 people have been quarantined. These rooms, which were renovated last year, were arranged by the hospital in preparedness for such emergencies.