Kerala: 3-year-old child tests positive for Coronavirus

 Kochi/Pathanamthitta,  A three-year old child who returned here from Italy tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday, taking the number of those afflicted by the infection in Kerala to six, officials said. While the child is being treated at the isolation ward of the Kalamassery Medical College hospital here, five others, who tested positive on Saturday, are undergoing treatment in similar facility in Pathanamthitta.

The condition of the child was stable, they added. The child and its parents who had reached the Cochin International Airport from Italy on March 7 at 6 a.m were subjected to thermal screening at the universal surveillance system established there. As the child had symptoms of coronavirus, all the three were immediately referred to the isolation ward of the hospital in Kalamassery, officials said. The samples of the child sent for examination at the National Institute of Virology lab have tested positive for coronavirus, they said.

The parents' samples have also been sent for lab test, the officials said. The state on Sunday reported five fresh cases, including a couple and their son who had flown from Italy and allegedly evaded airport screening, from Pathanamthitta, days after the country''s first three coronavirus patients from Kerala recovered and were discharged from hospitals. Two of their relatives staying in their home have also tested positive for coronavirus. Officials in Pathanamthitta said on Monday that there were five positive cases and five others with symptoms such as fever in the district. Of them, nine had been admitted to the isolation ward of the government general hospital in Pathanamthitta.

Among them, two elderly persons had been shifted to the Kottayam Medical College hospital considering their old age, they said without giving any further details. Pathanamthitta district Collector P B Nooh said eight teams of medical officials comprising doctors are in the process of preparing a list of the people with whom the virus infected persons had come in contact with during their stay in Ranni and surrounding areas between February 29 and March 6. Based on the list, the people showing symptoms of coronavirus will be hospitalised and others home quarantined, he said.

"So far we have got a list of 150 people with whom the infected persons had primary contacts. It is not necessary that they all would be infected with the virus. There could be a delay in showing the symptoms. So we will have to wait for 14-day incubation period," he said.

Out of 150 people, as many as 58 are included in the high-risk category and they are being closely monitored by health officials, the Collector said. After the five fresh cases, the government had put the state on high alert, especially in Pathanamthitta district where all public programmes and religious gatherings have been called off. In Kochi, besides the child, eleven others, including its parents, are under observation in isolation ward of the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital.

The health authorities have appealed to all the co- passengers of the coronavirus-infected child and its parents to report to them immediately. The child and its parents landed at the airport at 7.55 am on March 7 by an Emirates flight (EK 530), officials said. The government has warned failure to inform authorities about travel history and symptoms would be considered a crime and such people would be prosecuted.

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