The Central Prison in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, which grappled with COVID-19, has become free of the virus now. The final group of 42 inmates who remained COVID positive returned negative on Tuesday.
A total of 470 inmates and 10 staff, had been tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the prison when the first round of tests was concluded.
The prison reported its first COVID-19 case on August 10 when two inmates tested positive.
The inmates had symptoms of fever.
A rapid antigen test was soon conducted for the other inmates in the following days. A total of 59 inmates in the seventh block of the prison were tested positive in the test first.
A COVID-19 death was also reported from the prison when a prisoner in his 70s died on August 16.
The inmates who were tested positive included both remand and convicted prisoners. The assumption was that the virus was transmitted from some of the inmates who had gone to hospitals.
The COVID-19 patients in the prison were taken care of inside the jail itself, with setting up of special facilities for them. They were isolated in the prison blocks. The prison is estimated to have between 900 and 1000 inmates.
In the second round of testing, majority of the prisoners tested negative.