As many as seven persons who came from Abu Dhabi and Dubai in two Air India Express flights to Kochi and Karipur on Thursday night reached the district on Friday morning.
While six persons came from Abu Dhabi one came from Dubai.
Four of them, natives of Kuriyannur, Vaipur, Vechoochira, and Peringara, were taken to Pathanamthitta in a KSRTC bus from the Cochin airport, along with those bound for Kottayam.
District Collector P.B. Noohu welcomed them at St Peter’s Junction in the town around 4.30 a.m. All the four, two of them women, were taken to a COVID care centre set up at Gateway Residency in Ranni. They will be in quarantine there for the next 14 days.
Two pregnant women left for their homes at Nedumpram and Eraviperoor near Thiruvalla in taxis from the Cochin airport itself, where they will be in quarantine.
One person who reached the Karipur airport in Kozhikode from Dubai on Thursday night to attend the funeral of his father was taken to his home at Chittar in an ambulance. He will be in quarantine at his home.
The local self-government institution concerned will supply food to the quarantined people and health workers will carry out periodic check-ups. Seven persons bound for Pathanamthitta will reach Karipur from Riyadh on Friday night. People from the district will also be arriving by a flight from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday night.
110 care centres
Mr. Noohu said the administration had set up 110 COVID care centres for quarantining those coming from abroad and other States at Thiruvalla, Ranni, Konni, Mallappally, Kozhencherry, and Adoor.
He said 2,133 bath-attached rooms with 4,261 beds and 1,298 non-attached rooms with 3,183 beds had been arranged for quarantining people in the first phase. Of this, 2,431 rooms had been set apart for men and 1,000 rooms for women.
Mr. Noohu said the administration had set up seven COVID first-line treatment centres for treating COVID-19 patients and those with symptoms akin to the viral infection.
Only 5 in isolation wards
With no new COVID-19 case being reported from the district for the last 26 days, the number of quarantined persons at the hospital isolation wards came down to mere five on Friday.
As of now, only one person remains at the isolation ward of the Pathanamthitta General Hospital and two each at the Adoor General Hospital and at the District Hospital in Kozhencherry.
Meanwhile, 155 persons have reached the district from various other States, taking the total number of home quarantined people to 440 on Friday.
