Ernakulam district recorded 13 cases of COVID-19 for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.
Eight passengers of a flight from Kuwait that landed here on June 11 have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. They include four Aluva residents, aged 38, 39, 47 and 52; a 35-year-old Kunnukara resident; and a 40-year-old Ayavana resident and his two children aged four and six years.
The other patients are a 26-year-old from Elamakkara who arrived from Dubai on May 29; a 28-year-old Kunnathunadu native who arrived from Doha on June 5; a 53-year-old Edakkatuvayil native who reached Thiruvananthapuram from Abu Dhabi on June 4; a 34-year-old Thrikkakara resident arrived from Dubai on May 31; and a 34-year-old Lakshadweep resident who reached Karipur from Kuwait on May 26. A 48-year-old from Kakkanad who had been under treatment in the district since May 29 was tested negative on Tuesday.
A total of 95 COVID-19 patients are under treatment in various hospitals. As many as 78 samples were given for COVID-19 testing on Tuesday, while the results of 140 were received. The results of 243 samples are awaited.Fourteen people were shifted to hospital isolation on Tuesday, while 16 were discharged, taking the total number of those in hospital isolation to 120.
The district also added 792 new persons to the list of home-quarantined on Tuesday. After 450 persons completed their quarantine term, there are 10,283 in home quarantine in the district, 505 in COVID care centres and 1,207 in paid centres.
Tests negative
An 83-year-old Thrissur native who was critically ill when she was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Ernakulam soon after her arrival from Mumbai on May 28, has tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 after 14 days of treatment. The woman also suffers from diabetic ketoacidosis and kidney disease, and her treatment will continue at the intensive care unit of the hospital. According to the hospital authorities, the life-saving drug tocilizumab played a crucial role in curing the patient of COVID-19.
She was admitted to the hospital in a semi-conscious condition. She was immediately put on a ventilator when the hospital authorities found her lungs severely infected.
She was declared negative for SARS-CoV-2 after two consecutive sample tests. Her daughter and son-in-law had also tested positive for the virus. While the son-in-law has recovered, the daughter is undergoing treatment at the medical college hospital.
In Kannur
A driver of the Excise Department testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Tuesday has put the Health Department on high alert in Kannur. Six others in the district also tested positive on Tuesday. Five of them came from abroad, while one arrived from another State.
Eighteen employees of the Excise Department in Mattanur have been asked to go in home quarantine after the test results of the 28-year-old driver confirmed COVID-19 infection. District Medical Officer K. Narayanan Nayak said the driver, a resident of Padiyur, contracted the disease through local transmission.
His samples were collected for a swab test after he was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kannur. He was referred there from a private hospital, where he arrived with high fever and respiratory problems. How he contracted the disease is yet to be traced.
However, 18 of his primary contacts, including Excise inspectors working in the Mattanur office, have been asked to go in home quarantine. There were chances that the number might increase as he had visited various places while on duty, said Dr. Nayak.
Deputy Excise Commissioner P.K. Suresh said the employees going in quarantine would be replaced by a team of other officers. Before showing symptoms, the driver had accompanied the team during various checks and arrests within Mattanur limits, said Mr. Suresh.
Quarantine violation
The Muzhakkunu police have registered a case against a 28-year-old man for circulating false messages on social media and for leaving his quarantine facility after he was tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The case was registered against an Air India employee from Kavumbadi in Thilankeri based on a complaint filed by Kannur District Medical Officer K. Narayanan Nayak on June 14.
He had tested positive on May 29. While initial test results had been negative, his second test turned positive for the virus. However, he allegedly circulated the earlier test results on social media and moved out of the quarantine facility, and refused to cooperate with the grama panchayat, said Dr. Nayak. “Based on the report of the medical officer, we submitted a complaint to the police,” he said.
Dies of heart attack
The samples of a 54-year-old man who died at the District Hospital at Kanhangad in Kasaragod on Monday have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.
District Medical Officer A.V. Ramdas said the man died of heart attack and not due to COVID-19.
A resident of Uduma, Abdu Rehman, along with his son, was in home quarantine after returning from Dubai on Saturday. On Monday morning, both of them had given their samples for a swab test. By evening, Rehman had breathing problems and was immediately rushed to the hospital. However, he did not respond to treatment and died at the hospital.
Following test results, the Health Department handed over the body to Rehman’s family.
In Kozhikode
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Kozhikode district reached 102 on Tuesday when four more persons were declared positive for SARS-CoV-2.
According to a release by District Medical Officer V. Jayasree, the first and second patients, aged 67 and 24, respectively, from Chevarambalam, had returned from Mumbai by train on June 10. They were shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital on June 14 after symptoms were noticed. The third patient is a 23-year-old man from Thamarassery, who returned from Oman on June 11. He was shifted to the medical college hospital on June 14. The fourth patient is a 30-year-old lorry driver who returned from Odisha on May 30. He was shifted to the first-line treatment centre at Lakshadweep Guest House. The number of people under observation is 11,453, of whom 4,113 are expatriates.
In Thrissur
Seven new COVID-19 cases were reported in Thrissur district on Tuesday.
The patients include a 53-year-old man from Adattu who arrived from Mumbai on June 4; a 46-year-old man from Kumaranellu who arrived from Mumbai on June 8; a 52-year-old man from Mundoor who arrived from Gujarat on June 11; a 47-year-old woman from Koorkkanchery who arrived from Bahrain on June 6; a 53-year-old man from Ollukkara who arrived from Kuwait on June 10; and a 46-year-old man from Kunnamkulam and a 52-year-old man from Anandapuram who arrived from Kuwait on June 12.
A total of 12,282 people are under observation in the district. As many as 139 people are undergoing COVID-19 treatment in various hospitals and 11 people from Thrissur are admitted in hospitals in other districts.
(With inputs from Kannur, Kasaragod, Kozhikode and Thrissur bureaus)
