The samples of the parents of the three-year old who was infected with Coronavirus has also tested positive for COVID-19. This takes the total number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala to 14.
The parents of the kid were in isolation at the Kalamassery Medical College, Ernakulam. Eight individuals were infected by the three who returned from Italy on February 29 and went around hiding their travel history.
Among the eight are the 96-year-old father and 86-year-old mother of the head of the Italy returnee family. Besides their parents, the Italy returnees had infected four people in Pathanamthitta and two in Kottayam.
The condition of the parents, because of their age and other afflictions they already had, is said to be serious. "Doctors are battling to save the lives of the two aged parents," Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja said after a review meeting of the Health Department in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday evening.
The condition the 12 others, including the child, is stable.
The health minister said there was a high probability of the Pathanamthitta-based family infecting more people. "The good thing is, in the last two days we have managed to identify most of the people the family had come into contact with and had put all of them under observation," the minister said. "We will do all that is possible to identify the rest, too," she added.
Meanwhile, the health department has released a flow chart showing the travel history of two of the patients, who were landed in Kerala from Italy, to identify the people who may have come into contact with the patients without their knowledge. The chart shows the places they visited and the time of visiting.
She said the list of those who had flown with the three-year-old child and his parents was also being drawn up. "The plan is to trace their contact right down to the last person they had interacted with," the minister said.
The minister said that 1,495 individuals, up from 1,116 yesterday, were under observation in various parts of Kerala. Of this, 1,236 (967 yesterday) are in home quarantine and the remaining 259 (149 yesterday) are in isolation in various government and private hospitals.
Serum samples of 970 samples suspected cases have been sent to the National Institute of Virology. The results of 815 have thrown up negative results.
Besides Alappuzha, testing is being done at Kozhikode Medical College, too. Nine samples that were tested at Kozhikode Medical College had turned negative. Testing will begin at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College from March 11, the minister said.
