Palakkad: Hundreds of people had come in contact with a lorry driver, who tested positive for coronavirus in Kerala's Palakkad district.
A native of Kuzhalmannam in the district, the driver had recently travelled from Chennai to Kerala.
His close relatives, officials at the Walayar check-post along the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, loading workers at Salem and Coimbatore, and some people at Thodupuzha are on the list of his primary contacts.
Route map
* Before heading to Hyderabad on April 7 with the goods, he spent around half-an-hour at his house at Kuzhalmannam.
* He returned to Vazhakulam in Ernakulam on April 8 on his cargo lorry.
* He stayed at a room near Queens Pineapple shop at Vazhakulam from April 8 to 13.
* He started from Pandalam around 8am on April 13 with the goods-laden lorry and reached his house by 10pm. He stayed there till April 15.
* He left for Chennai with an aide from Chithali on April 15 and delivered the goods.
* He stayed at Tindivanam near Chennai from April 16 to 17. He left for Salem around 11pm on April 17.
* He reached Salem around 5am on April 18. He joined his aide and five other loading workers to stack-up watermelons on the lorry.
* He left for Kerala around 5am on April 19, and reached Walayar check-post around 11am and completed the checks. During the journey, he stopped twice in Tamil Nadu to eat and to freshen up. He reached Kuzhalmannam around noon. He sought treatment at a community health centre after he felt feverish. He was admitted to the isolation ward of the district hospital on April 19.
Aide too isolated
After the driver was hospitalised, his aide drove the lorry to Kottayam market and unloaded the watermelons at a shop. Panic gripped the town after it was known that the aide of a COVID-positive driver had arrived in Kottayam market. The health department officials forced the owner to shut the shop.
The aide was taken for medical examination at the Ernakulam Medical College Hospital. His body fluids have been sent for testing. The test results will be out on Thursday.
He was then taken to the Palakkad General Hospital in an ambulance and admitted to the isolation ward.
