Panic in Kerala after coronavirus patient’s neighbour dies in Kottayam

PTI, Mar 13, 2020, 5:44 PM IST

Kottayam: An elderly man, who was a neighbour of a coronavirus patient at Chengalam here and under home quarantine, died on Friday en route to hospital and authorities are awaiting the post-mortem report and test results of samples to confirm the cause of death.

Kottayam district collector P K Sudheer Babu said the deceased did not show any signs of the virus and a preliminary medical examination showed that the death had occurred due to heart attack. He said the deceased was a “secondary contact” of the infected person.

“We are quite sure the death was not related to the coronavirus. The deceased did not show any sign of the virus. Our preliminary examination shows the death had occurred due to heart attack. But, we can confirm it only after the post-mortem. The person was under home quarantine,” the collector told reporters.

Babu said it was the son of the deceased who is the “primary contact” of the infected person and not the father.

According to an official, his son had come into direct contact with one of the COVID-19 patients from Chengalam between February 29 and March 8. “The son is under observation. Neither he nor any other members of his family has any symptom of the infection now. Yet to rule out any doubt, we are waiting for the post-mortem report and the samples have been sent for testing,” the collector said, adding the person was brought dead to the medical college hospital.

The collector convened the press conference after rumours were spread that the person who died was affected by coronavirus.

Kerala has been hit by the second round of coronavirus cases after the country’s first three positive cases in the state were successfully cured and discharged from hospitals last month.

The state has reported 16 cases and 270 people are in isolation wards at various hospitals. There are 4,180 people under observation, of which 3,910 are under home quarantine.