The state of Kerala is one step away from declaring a lockdown after a sudden spike in the number of Coronavirus cases reported there.Till last week Kerala was relieved and the 'Kerala Model' which effectively contained the initial outbreak was getting widely praised.?
But on Sunday, Kerala was in for a shock after health minister KK Shailaja confirmed that five more people have been tested positive for Covid-19.Since then the number of cases in the state has gone up to 14. And the worst part is that most of the infections were passed on from a three-member family in Pathanamthitta who had recently returned from Italy, the worst affected country outside China.?
The couple and their son had returned to Kochi on February 29 via Doha and did not inform the authorities at the airport about their travel history and was not screened for the infection.Since they came to their hometown after a long gap, they visited several relatives and visited many places in the following days.?
A few days later two people went to the Government Hospital in Ranni with a complaint of fever.After assessing the symptoms, Dr. Shambu of the Ranni Government Hospital asked the patient if they had recently visited any foreign countries. The answer was no.?
He further asked if they had been in contact with anyone who had recently travelled abroad. On this, the duo said their neighbours had recently returned from Italy had visited them at home.
Dr. Shambhu was quick to realize the danger and asked them to get admitted to an isolation ward. The information was also passed on to the Health Ministry and District Administration, which soon dispatched a medical team and an ambulance to the Italy-returns house.?
But what happened there was shocking! The family initially refused to admit that they had any symptoms, but later admitted that one of them had visited a local hospital with fever and took medicines without mentioning their travel history. The family even refused to board the ambulance and insisted that they will come to the hospital in their car.
Even after they tested positive for the deadly infection, the family refused to disclose their travel details and the names of people whom they had contacted.After much pressure 'interrogation' based on CCTV visuals, they revealed the places they had visited. Even while they were in isolation, one of them in a video statement had claimed that they were not informed about the screening at the airport. This has since been rejected by another passenger who had taken the same flight.?
Since getting the details of all the place and people they met, 12 teams of the Kerala Health Department was on a massive manhunt, across two districts. In the past six days, the teams have identified some 3000 people whom the family has come into contact with directly or indirectly and have been monitoring them for any symptoms of infections.They had even prepared a route map of all the places where the couple had travelled.?
Explaining the chain of events in the Assembly, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said that the family's actions were irresponsible, however, insisted that the government's priority is to get them recover.The condition of the trio is said to be stable, but two relatives they had visited in Kottayam are critical.