Coronavirus scare: BJP minister V Muraleedharan goes on home quarantine

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan has chosen self quarantine as a preventive measure against the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The BJP minister from Kerala has isolated himself, though he has not shown any symptom of COVID-19, after a doctor of Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthauram was tested positive for the virus infection. The minister had recently attended a programme at the hospital.

Muraleedharan had held a meeting at the institute on March 14 at the director's office, in which heads of various departments had participated.

SCTIMST, an Institution of National Importance under the Department of Science and Technology, has the status of a university and offers excellent research and training facilities.

Manorama News reported that Muraleedharan has decided to stay away from the ongoing parliament session and carry on his works from his official residence in Delhi.

The hospital authorities said the infected doctor had not attended the programme with Muraleedharan. The doctor has been quarantined since March 11. He was tested positive on March 13 and shifted to Medical College Hospital. The minister attended the programme on March 14. None of the 73 people who are under observation for suspected contacts with the patient had attended the event, the hospital authorities said.

The Sri Chitra Tirunal hospital has virtually shut down after it was confirmed on Sunday that a radiologist who had returned from Spain had tested positive for coronavirus. Sources said senior doctors of at least six core departments have been asked to isolate themselves in their homes.

"We have identified 75 employees, including at least 25 doctors who have come under the primary contact list and they have been placed under isolation", the sources said.

Their family members have been asked to continue in home isolation.

Departments have been asked to prune the outpatient and inpatient services depending on the staff strength available. Departments have also been asked to strictly avoid new admissions. Major surgical procedures like Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's patients have been postponed, and patients have been told to shift back home.

The SCTIMST authorities said the primary and secondary contacts have been identified with the help of health officials. It is said that among the primary contacts are doctors, patients and bystanders. The families of doctors, considered secondary contacts, are also under intense surveillance.

The radiologist had landed in Thiruvananthapuram on March 1 without any symptoms. Since Spain was then not in the list of high-risk countries, the doctor reported for duty the very next day at the Digital Subtraction Angiography lab. The Union Health Ministry advisory on February 26 had not listed Spain as high-risk.

Suspecting nothing, the radiologist worked his usual hours till March 5.