THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Peeved with a Pathanamthitta nursing college management for its failure to report the Omicron cluster to the health department on Wednesday, Health Minister Veena George on Thursday warned of strict action against institutions hiding Covid clusters.
She also directed the district medical officer to take action against the Pathanamthitta college. It is suspected that a student of the college got infected by a person who returned from abroad recently.
“All the institutes have to follow Covid guidelines. If more Covid cases are reported in the Pathanamthitta institute, the management should inform the health department,” Veena said. Covid clusters have also been reported in College of Pharmacy and College of Engineering Trivandrum.
Meanwhile, a Covid review meeting on Friday will decide whether to continue offline classes in schools.
The state on Thursday reported 59 new Omicron cases, taking the tally to 480. Of the newly-infected persons, 42 came from low-risk countries and five from high-risk countries. Of the total 480 Omicron patients, 332 people arrived from low-risk countries, 90 came from high-risk nations, 52 were infected locally, while six came from other states.