Amidst the ongoing influx of expatriates from COVID-19-affected countries to the State, the focus of the Health authorities in Kottayam has now shifted to a COVID care centre near Ettumanoor.
As per official estimates, 33 out of the 94 persons who reached the district from the Gulf countries have been admitted to the Thuvanisa Retreat Centre, near Kothanallur. The remaining 61 persons, according to officials, belonged to the exempted category and hence have been allowed to remain in home quarantine.
Besides those from overseas, the centre here has accommodated 12 persons returning from the red zones of other States in the country. Arrangements are now also in place to lodge the four men who will reach the district from Kuala Lumpur via Kochi at midnight on Sunday.
Accident at Karoor
The district administration here on Sunday made interventions to bring back nursing students from Bengaluru who remained stranded at Karoor, Tamil Nadu, following a bus accident. Officials said both District Collector P.K. Sudheer Babu and District Police Chief G. Jaidev called up their counterparts in Karoor and arranged a bus for the students to reach Kottayam.
A bus carrying 25 students, mostly from Kottayam and Idukki districts who were being brought back from their college, rammed a tanker on the National Highway near Karoor at around 12 noon on Sunday. The bus driver, a native of Thrissur, sustained serious injuries while the passengers escaped with minor injuries.
Check-posts
As on Sunday afternoon, the number of person who entered the district through the inter-State check-posts stood at 1,081.
The authorities have so far issued passes to 1,894 persons and are slated to consider 1,094 applications for passes.
Kottayam has not reported any fresh cases of COVID -19 outbreak for the past four days. Of the 109 sample results received on Sunday, all tested negative.
The shutdown declared by the State government was complete in Kottayam with all shops remaining shut and vehicles staying off the road.
Our Staff Reporter writes from Alappuzha: The number of expatriates shifted to COVID-19 care centres in the district has touched 69. This included 33 people who arrived at Cochin and Karipur airports from the Gulf nations and 36 from Maldives.
Officials said 42 people had reached Alappuzha from Maldives. Of this, 36 were shifted to a care centre at Kanichukulangara to serve the mandatory institutional quarantine period. Six persons were sent to self-quarantine at their houses. Officials also said of the 52 people who reached from the Gulf countries, 19 were allowed to go to their homes to serve the self- quarantine period.
