Kerala has started the institutional quarantine of interstate travellers who have come from red zones in other states. So far, Kerala has quarantined 3,214 people in government facilities, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday.
According to the CM, out of over 16,000 people who have reached Kerala from other Indian states, 8,912 are from hotspot regions. Over 3,000 people are presently in quarantine at the government centres, while the rest of the people are being traced.
“On Thursday, 3,214 people reached the state from hotspot regions, we are trying to find others who have come to Kerala in the previous days,” said CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
Kerala opened its six interstate borders on May 4 for the first time since lockdown started. In the initial days, people who returned from red zones were not quarantined in government centres, but as the influx of people became massive, it was announced two days ago that everyone coming from red zone regions should undergo compulsory institutional quarantine (at government facilities) for 14 days.
Pregnant women, children below 10 year of age and people above 75 years are being not kept in institutional quarantine, and have been told to undergo home quarantine.
As per data, till Friday evening, Malappuram and Palakkad districts have the highest number of people who have returned from other states. About 3,000 people have reached Malappuram district and 2,900 people have returned to Palakkad.
The state government had on Thursday stopped issuing passes for interstate travellers as there was already a huge influx of people. But it resumed on Friday.
Till date, over the 45,000 people who have got the pass, and about 19,000 are coming from red zones. Kerala will quarantine all of these people in the government facilities in their respective districts.
Of the 181 people who landed in Cochin International Airport Limited from Abu Dhabi, through the evacuation of Indian government, five have been isolated in Ernakulam Government Medical College as they showed COVID-19 symptoms.
On Friday, an evacuation flight from Riyadh will land at Calicut International Airport with 149 passengers. Along with Kerala natives, 10 people from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are also there as passengers. 84 of the passengers are pregnant women.
Over 24,000 migrant workers left Kerala
As of Thursday, over 24,000 migrant workers have left Kerala to their native states. On Friday, one more train carrying migrant workers will leave for Lucknow.
Till date, nine trains with over 10,000 migrant workers have left for Bihar; three trains carrying 3,400 people have left for Odisha; five trains carrying about 5,600 people have left for Jharkhand; about 2,200 people returned to Uttar Pradesh on two trains; about 1,100 people left to Madhya Pradesh in one train and another train to West Bengal took 1,100 people from Kerala.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that some receiving states have yet not approved the return of migrant workers. “When they grant permission, we will start the process to send them back,” he said.
About 3.6 lakh migrant workers are totally in Kerala, including the people who left their hometowns.
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