2 Indians Evacuated From Gulf Test Positive For Coronavirus In Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an anti-climax to the Kerala’s relatively good success rate in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, two Indians, who were among 363 people brought back to the state from Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Thursday, tested positive for coronavirus. While announcing this on Saturday evening, the Kerala government said that one of the two infected persons is being given treatment in Kozhikode and the other in Kochi.

On Thursday, the 363 Indians, mostly NRIs, were shifted from the two UAE metropolitan cities by Air India’s special flights. The two new additions take the total number of active cases in Kerala to 505 of which 17 are being treated at different hospitals. While four deaths were attributed to the dreaded virus, 484 others were successfully cured of the disease and subsequently discharged.

The detection of new coronavirus positive cases of the two foreign returnees comes a day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced to the world that the state had been successful in containing the spread of Coronavirus so far. He however expressed the premonition that the arrival of repatriated Indians can lead to a third wave of infections and that the state must be ready to brace for it.

The Kerala chief minister also said that the state managed to ‘flatten the infection curve’ of the virus but cautioned the people against complacency asking them to be more careful in the coming days.

On Monday, the Centre announced its plans to evacuate Indians stranded abroad from May 7th in a phased manner. The COVID-19 lockdown-time evacuation of stranded Indians from abroad is considered as the biggest exercise since the second Gulf war when Air India airlifted about 1.84 lakh Indians from the Gulf countries.

Also Read: 100 Days After It’s First COVID-19 Case, Kerala Marks ‘Flattened Curve’