Officials from the state of Kerala have confirmed that a 3-year-old child of a family who traveled to Kochi from Italy via Dubai has tested positive for coronavirus bringing the total to 41 cases in India.
The parents and the child were in Italy arrived in Kochi on March 7. The mother works as a nurse in Italy. During universal screening at the airport, it was found that the child has fever, following which the child was admitted to the Ernakulam Medical College hospital and samples taken. The samples returned positive on Monday, following which officials have begun contact tracing of all the passengers and airline crew members who may have come in contact with the child.
The child, who is under observation and is undergoing treatment, is stable.
The parents too are in isolation wards and their samples have been sent for testing. The government has said that a few airport officials who had close interactions with the child, have been identified and are under observation.
They travelled on an Emirates flight number EK 530 on March 7 and passengers on the flight are being traced. The government has also launched a helpline number for those who wish to reach out about the same: District Control Room: 04842368802; Toll free: 1056
On Sunday, the Kerala government had confirmed that five other people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19. Out of this, three people had come from Italy on February 29th, they had not declared themselves to the local health officer. On March 4, they had gone to a private hospital, but here too had not revealed their travel history. Later on March 6 their neighbours who are also their relatives went to a taluk hospital with signs of fever and other symptoms. They disclosed details about the family that had come from Italy. Following this, all five were placed in isolation wards and test confirmed that they had contracted the virus. The state is on high alert, holiday has been declared for all educational institutions in Pathanamthitta district. The government has started tracing almost 150 people that the five patients had been in contact with.