Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy tests COVID-19 positive

Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy. File photo

Thiruvananthapuram: Two days after the Kerala Assembly polls, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy tested COVID-19 positive on Thursday.

Chandy's results came few hours after the news about Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's coronavirus infection came out.

Chandy, for the past two days, had been keeping unwell with fever and was resting at his home. Two doctors had come and checked him on Thursday and advised him to be hospitalised.

The 77-year-old Congress leader was one of the most sought after party politician for the past three weeks during the assembly election campaign and had been travelling across the state during this period.

While Pinarayi wrote on his Facebook page that he has turned Covid positive and that he was getting himself admitted in the Kozhikode Medical, Chandy's family preferred to let him remain at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram. But sources close to him said he might be moved to a private hospital shortly.

On the polling day on Tuesday, Pinarayi's daughter had turned positive, but she cast her vote wearing a PPE kit and her husband PA Mohammed Riyaz, who contested the assembly polls from Beypore constituency, has also turned positive.

On Thursday, Kerala witnessed a spike in the test positivity ratio which touched 6.81 per cent after 4,353 turned positive from 63,901 samples sent for testing in the past 24 hours.

The state government had warned everyone on Wednesday to ensure precautions as a spike was expected following laxity in COVID-19 appropriate behaviour in the wake of Assembly polls that was held on the previous day.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.