Kochi airport officials ordered to remain in self-quarantine

KOCHI: A British national who had tested positive for Covid-19 was among a group of 18, all from the UK, that was stopped from boarding an Emirates flight to Dubai at Kochi airport on Sunday morning following an alert from Munnar about the tourists allegedly fleeing the resort where they had been quarantined since Wednesday.Sources said the 57-yearold Briton and the rest of the group had left the resort around 10.30pm on Saturday, shortly after the team of health officials monitoring them stepped out. On reaching the Kochi airport the next morning, the group checked in for the flight, but was detained during security check.While the flight took off without them at 12.47pm, the British patient and his wife were shifted to the isolation ward of Ernakulam Medical College Hospital . The other 16 were moved to a private hotel in Kochi, where they will remain quarantined for the period recommended by doctors.Another passenger, a Kerala native, opted not to take the flight. The person has been recommended home quarantine.Besides the Briton, a doctor in Thiruvananthapuram who had visited Spain for a short-term medical course tested positive on Sunday, taking the number of cases in Kerala to 24. Kochi airport officials said the Briton, his wife and the rest of the UK group had no direct contact with other passengers. Flight operations resumed after a disinfection drive, they said.State agriculture minister V S Sunilkumar, who convened a review meeting at the airport, said all staff, including the security officials who frisked the tourists, had been identified and ordered to self-isolate.