Senior BJP leader from Kerala and Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, has reportedly decided to stay away from public events and be on home quarantine for a few days.
The 61-year-old leader had reportedly come into contact with the doctor from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram who had tested positive for coronavirus on March 15. The minister had earlier attended a meeting in which the doctor too was present. According to reports, the minister had decided to be in home quarantine at his Delhi residence and has so far not exhibited any symptoms of COVID-19. Tests were done immediately and his report returned negative on Monday (March 16), some reports said.
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— Devirupa Mitra (@DevirupaM) March 17, 2020
MOS in EAM V Muraleedharan suspected that he may have been infected. Went into self-quaratine. Test was done immediately. Results came yesterday night. He is negative for #Covid19.
The Minister of State has also been keeping away from the Parliament and did not attend the BJP Parliamentary meeting in Delhi on Tuesday.
Among the 24 positive cases in Kerala, excluding the three recovered patients, is a doctor from Thiruvananthapuram’s Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology who had returned from a trip from Spain and worked in the hospital for 10 days before being tested positive for COVID-19.
Fifteen medical staff including doctors, nurses and technical staff of the hospital are currently being observed as they had come in contact with the infected doctor.
The coronavirus positive doctor who works in the hospital had visited the Cath and Radiology labs, examined patients and interacted with peers between March 2 and 11. On March 12, he reported his travel history to Spain to the hospital authorities after he developed a sore throat. However, he was not put on quarantine as Spain had not been on the list of vulnerable countries. On March 14, the doctor went on self-quarantine and his results returned positive for the virus on the following day.
With the quarantine of senior doctors and other staff at Sree Chitra, the functioning of the institute has been affected with all non-emergency surgeries being postponed for the time being.
Additionally, over 100 passengers who flew with the coronavirus positive doctor from Spain to Kerala are also being observed for symptoms.