A ten-month-old baby boy drowned in a bucket of water in Kerala’s Palakkad district. The incident happened around 9.45 pm on Saturday.

The parents of the child have been under home quarantine as part of the COVID-19 regulation in place. The family came to Kerala from Indore on May 11 along with some of their relatives, post the relaxations in the lockdown.The child’s paternal uncle had been tested positive for COVID-19 infection and had been shifted to a hospital in Mankulam.

The child’s parents have been on home quarantine ever since they returned, Palakkad District Medical Officer Dr KP Reetha told TNM.

“On Saturday night, the bathroom door was accidentally kept open. A while later, when the parents began searching for the child, they found him in the bucket. Though the kid was rushed to a hospital, he was declared brought dead,” an official of the Chalissery police told TNM.

The child’s body has been kept at Thrissur Medical College. The child's swab has been sent for examination to check whether he had coronavirus. a decision on autopsy will be taken after the examination result comes, officials said.

Currently, Palakkad has the highest number of cases in Kerala. The district has 125 active cases now. On Saturday, as many as 13,385 people have been under surveillance. 13,234 people have been in isolation on home or intuitional quarantine while 151 are admitted in hospitals.  

Among the 50 COVID-19 positive cases of the state including that of Palakkad, the authorities are yet to trace the source of infection. The 50 patients include 13 health workers, as well as two police officers, who may have been exposed to the virus while on duty.