KANNUR: As many as 83 more prisoners have tested positive on Sunday, taking the total number of persons tested positive inside Kannur central jail to 154.
This has left the police and health departments and district administration equally worried about the situation. In the past two days 144 prisoners and 10 jail officials were infected.
Though the officials have shifted the infected prisoners to the quarantine centre set up inside the jail, the officials fear that, the situation would worsen in the coming days. As of now, there are 770 prisoners in the Central prison.
As part of precautionary measures, the officials have also separated the prisoners who have been considered as primary contacts by setting up quarantine centre in another block. “If more cases come up in the coming days, these facilities would not be enough to accommodate the infected prisoners,” said an official.
The spread was detected during an RT-PCR test conducted among prisoners and jail officials. Though the department had earlier shifted two prisoners to a CFLTC at Taliparamba, it is not considered a practical measure to shift more prisoners to such centres considering the security issues.
In the wake of the spread of Covid, the prison officials have imposed restrictions on visitors to the jail. Around 300 prisoners, who are above the age of 45 years, had been vaccinated earlier. It is suspected that, the disease was transmitted by two prisoners who had returned after parole.