The Health Department in Kerala has asked all people who had participated in rescue operations after the plane mishap in Kozhikode to go into quarantine. The request has been made in the backdrop of the COVID-19 situation in Kozhikode.
“We have taken this decision considering two facts. Most of the rescue operators have come from containment zone around the airport. Most of the passengers are coming from countries which still have a high number of COVID-19 patients. We could not follow CVID-19 protocol in those emergency situations,'' a senior official in the Health Department told The WEEK.
According to him, one of the deceased has tested positive for COVID-19 in the postmortem report.
He said that the government has also requested those who have attended rescue operations to desist from donating blood.
“It is the large heartedness of those who rushed to the airport immediately to rescue the passengers that saved many lives. But the fact that we are living in COVID times compels us to take extraordinary precautionary measures,'' the official said.
The official said that the government has already identified around 500 persons who had taken part in the rescue operations.
According to the latest update, 18 people including two pilots were killed in the crash.
