14 contacts of Spain returnee under observation in Kovai

The 25-year-old girl, studying for MBA in Spain, flew down to Delhi on March 13, by air to Bangalore and then reached Coimbatore by train on March 17. As she had symptoms for COVID-19, the woman visited Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital and insisted for a check-up. She was then quarantined at the ESI Government Hospital.

She tested positive for the infection on Sunday. Officials of the Public Health Department found a total of 14 persons to be in contact with her before she was isolated in the hospital.

Also, all families staying in an apartment, where she was residing in the city, were screened by the Health Department staff and advised to be in home quarantine.

Coimbatore district Deputy Director of Public Health Department G Ramesh Kumar said that the woman’s father and sister tested negative for the infection.

“On reaching Coimbatore from Bangalore, she hired a call taxi to reach home. We traced the taxi driver and quarantined him at our observation centre in Karumathampatty. He is being monitored by a team of doctors,” he said.

Two of her friends, who met the woman, were also quarantined and are under observation. “Also, a healthcare team comprising doctors, nurses and medical staff, who examined her at CMCH, were under observation. Though they took all precautions while collecting her swab and during examination, the team has been kept under intensive observation as a precautionary measure,” he said.

Efforts are on to trace passengers, who travelled with her in the train from Bangalore to Coimbatore. Another woman, a native of Palakkad in Kerala, turned up at CMCH with fever and has been admitted on the night of March 22. She is also under observation.