THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After the super spread of Covid-19 in Central prison at Poojappura in the capital, the district jail situated nearby also saw 27 of its prisoners testing positive in the antigen tests conducted on Tuesday, taking the total number of infected prisoners here to 36. Earlier, nine prisoners tested positive on Sunday and Monday. Hence tests were conducted on all the 130 prisoners. However, 45 out of the 59 staff in the district jail have tested negative while the tests for remaining others are yet to be conducted. According to the jail superintendent, the antigen tests for the remaining staff will be done in the coming days.
The infected prisoners have been shifted to the Covid First Line Treatment Centre at the Central prison and they are under the surveillance of a special medical team. The inmates who are under remand were among those who tested positive. All of them who were tested were asymptomatic. The source of infection in the district jail is unknown.