KASARAGOD: The case of a Class X student testing positive for the novel coronavirus has pushed the district to the brink of community transmission, if it has not already happened. The girl, aged 15, has written two examinations after coming in contact with her infected father who had returned from Dubai on March 17. The case brings to the fore the district administration’s failure in the timely testing and isolation of overseas returnees. The district administration has gone into an overdrive since the girl was confirmed Covid-19 positive Friday evening.
“Now there are no route maps,” said District Medical Officer Dr A V Ramdas.“We will be collecting the swabs of all those who came in contact with the girl. Our main job is to track down all her contacts.”While tracking will be an arduous task, the lapses have put several other students at risk. The girl’s father, who works in Naif -- a Covid hotbed in Dubai -- landed at the Kozhikode International Airport. He cleared the thermal scanning at the airport, took a train and reached the Kanhangad railway station. There too he cleared the thermal scanning, said his wife who is now in hospital.
“But I was worried because I have been seeing too many reports of corona cases from Dubai,” she told TNIE.“And we have four children. I had to think of their safety, too.”She took her husband to the District Hospital on March 18 and 19. On both occasions, the authorities did not take his swab.“The doctors said it will be futile to take swab without symptoms and they sent us back,” she said. On both these days, their daughter had Class X exams. And now the race is on to trace hers and her friends’ contacts. Her father had tested positive on March 23, and the family has been shifted to the District Hospital.