Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 14, 2020: As many as 22 officials, who were engaged in plane crash rescue operation in Kerala have tested positive for coronavirus.

“They were quarantined after the rescue operations at the plane crash site ended. Most of them were on location,” the medical officer of Malappuram district told reporters on August 14.

Health officials had asked some 600 people, including locals, to go into quarantine on August 8, a day after the Air India Express plane with 184 passengers from Dubai crashed at Calicut International Airport located at Karippur in Malappuram district.

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and seven ministers have entered self-quarantine after the Malappuram district Collector N. Gopalakrishnan tested Covid-19 positive on August 13. The collector had accompanied the chief minister and team during their visit to the Karipur flight crash site.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan too had visited the crash site on August 8. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan had also visited the crash site and held meetings.

All on board the crashed aircraft were evacuated after three hours of rescue operation. Eighteen people including both the pilots died in the crash and more than 150 were injured. All survivors were admitted to various hospitals and were also tested for Covid-19.

Kerala is likely to see a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in August and September with daily infections expected between 10,000 and 20,000, news agency Press Trust of India quoted state Health Minister KK Shailaja as saying.

“Experts have opined that during the months of August and September we may witness a surge in COVID-19 cases. We may report between 10,000 to 20,000 cases per day,” she said August 14 in a video campaign asking people to join the “Covid Brigade” to halt the pandemic spread.

On Thursday, Kerala recorded 1,564 positive cases, taking the total infection tally to 39,708.

The total number of cases in India on August 13 reached 2,461,190 with 48,040 deaths.

Source: ndtv.com