PALAKKAD: Health authorities’ worst fears of Covid-infected persons from other states entering Kerala hiding their disease status came true when a duo from Chennai tested positive on Wednesday. The two, a 38-year-old Kollengode native and a 27-year-old man from Kavassery, entered the state on Sunday via Walayar hiding the fact that they had jumped quarantine in Chennai. District Collector D Balamurali told TNIE the two were booked for not declaring that they were primary contacts of a Covid-19 patient.
“They also did not disclose that authorities in Chennai had sent their swab samples for testing after their roommate tested positive on May 16, a day before they reached Walayar,” the collector said. “They were advised to remain in quarantine there,” he said. They subsequently tested positive in Chennai too. The two, however, claimed they left for Walayar before the swab test results came.
“When it became known that the two from Palakkad and the Thrissur native, who tested positive after arriving at Walayar, shared the room with the positive patient in Chennai, they were shifted to hospital isolation. After testing positive, they have been admitted to the district hospital,” said Rachana Chidambaram, district programme manager, National Health Mission.Symptomatic persons trying to sneak into the state hiding their medical condition is a serious matter, Balamurali said. “There could be many more such cases,” he said.
Wednesday witnessed a sudden spurt in Covid cases in the district after seven persons — three from Chennai and four from Maharashtra — tested positive. While the Chennai returnees arrived bia Walayar, those from Maharashtra reached the state on May 14 via Thalappady checkpost in Kasaragod.