On Friday, the Thrissur district administration released a flow chart that traced the places visited by a 21-year-old man who has been tested positive for COVID-19 virus. The man, who was a co-passenger of an NRI family from Italy that tested positive, arrived in Kochi on February 29 and travelled to his house in nearby Thrissur district.
The man went about his travel within the district and a week later, he realised he, too, maybe infected. On March 8, Sunday, that the Kerala health department confirmed the five COVID-19 cases — the family of three and their two neighbours — in Pathanamthitta district. The same day, the administration also issued an alert to all passengers who travelled on Qatar Airways flight QR514 from Doha to Kochi on February 29, announcing that the co-passengers could have been exposed to the virus.
It was after seeing this alert that the 21-year-old reported himself to the district hospital in Thrissur on March 8 around 6.30 pm in his private vehicle. According to District Collector S Shanavas, the man experienced sore throat on March 6. After he was admitted, his family and other close contacts were put under observation. However, his movements in the week before that show that he had been to various places including a wedding engagement, a mall and a movie theatre.
There was, however, a confusion initially as the man thought that the family from Italy had travelled on a flight on February 27. As soon as this was clarified by the health department, he went to a government hospital.
“We started tracing his contact ever since the case was confirmed on Thursday night. We have deployed 10 teams so far and have identified 356 contacts. We have personally contacted and advised them, including owners of various establishments, to remain in quarantine,” District Collector S Shanavas said on Friday.
Map by MediaOne
Places visited:
February 29: Al Reem restaurant in Kodungallur
March 1: A relative’s house and his sister’s house
March 2: NN Puram Latha Bakery
March 3: Kodungallur Mughal cinema theatre
March 5: Cheepuchira resort
March 6: Sobha City Mall - visited shops like W, Max, Vismay and Twinboards; Linen Club at West Fort; and then Marva Restaurant.
March 8: A relative’s engagement ceremony at their house