Kerala: Coronavirus Patient Flouts Quarantine Norms; More Problems In Store If His Bus Conductor Son Tests Positive

Yet another coronavirus (Covid-19) patient in Kerala has flouted quarantine norms in Palakkad district, endangering thousands of others.

Local media reported that a person, who had returned from his Umrah pilgrimage from Saudi Arabia, was asked to stay under home quarantine soon after his arrival on 13 March at the Karipur International Airport in Kozhikode.

The Palakkad native, who hails from Karakurussi village near Mannarkkad in central part of the district, visited many places flouting instructions to remain isolated from others.

Palakkad collector D Balamurali told the media that the Palakkad native was asked to isolate himself when he showed symptoms.

But he kept on visiting people, mostly in banks and shops, in his locality. He had also reportedly visited Malappuram.

Finally, the authorities had to place him in an isolation ward on 21 March and his tests returned positive for coronavirus on 25 March.

Kerala Police have now registered a case against the Karakurussi village resident.

But of more concern is the fact that his son, a bus conductor with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). The son reported for duty on 17 March with the bus going to Coimbatore in neighbouring Tamil Nadu via Attappady, a tribal area, from Mannarkkad.

On 19 March, the conductor had manned Palakkad-Thiruvananthapuram route. He consumed food from KSRTC canteens at two places, one at Kayamkulam and the other at Thiruvananthapuram.

The son’s serum samples have been sent for testing and results are expected by Friday (27 March) evening. On their part, the health authorities are trying to prepare a route map to identify possible contacts.

The officials also plan to put up the timings of the buses and will ask those who travelled in them to isolate themselves besides reporting to the state health department.

The Palakkad resident’s case is the second such in Kerala after Ameer B, a resident of Kasaragod district, flouted the quarantine norms travelling across three districts and attending two marriages, a funeral and one child-naming ceremony besides attending a football match.

Fortunately for Kerala, no Covid-19 cases have been reported from Kasaragod for over 36 hours now.

So far, 118 people have been affected by coronavirus in Kerala with 91 of them having come from abroad. The rest picked up the infection locally from them.

Apart from this, at least 76,500 people are under observation and home quarantine, while 542 have been placed in isolation wards of different hospitals.

Of the 4,902 samples tested by the Kerala government so far, 3,465 have reported negative.