THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Crime Branch probe has been ordered to find out the contacts of Pothencode native Abdul Azeez who died due to COVID-19 on Tuesday. The decision was taken after it was assessed that he had interacted with a lot of people but their identities were not clear.
The authorities had appealed to the public to turn up before health department officials in case they had come in contact with him but the response has been poor. Police sources said it was because of this that a Crime Branch probe has been ordered. The probe, the police sources said, will initially focus on finding out where else he had gone other than what has been confirmed so far.
Police sources said a timeline will be sought from Google to identify the places he had visited. However, the police said they cannot expect much by locating the mobile phone tower near where the deceased man travelled as it won't throw up any details of those who had been in close contact with him.
Top police sources, meanwhile, said Google has been helping officials of the Health Department and National Informatics Centre to prepare a flowchart by providing the timeline of the infected persons. However, this service is restricted to the COVID-19 infected only due to privacy issues and cannot be sought in case of primary and secondary contacts.
Meanwhile, the funeral of Azeez, 68, the second COVID 19 victim in the state, was held here by the health department and district administration on Tuesday afternoon.
The funeral was held following all the protocols set by the WHO at the Kallur Juma Masjid burial ground. No one other than health workers were allowed into the premises of the burial ground.
The body was wrapped in a triple layer body bag and buried in a 10-foot deep pit with five officials and two mosque representatives in attendance.
The patient, a retired police officer, had been on ventilator for the past five days at the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram before he passed away late in the night on Monday.
Meanwhile, Pothencode, Manikkal, Mangalapuram and Vembayam Panchayats are now under complete quarantine for the coming few weeks. Ayirottukonam region under the city corporation will also be under strict quarantine.