E-Paper
Kerala ready to give kits to test expatriates before boarding flights: CM
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Kerala will provide TrueNat kits to Indian missions where testing facilities are not available.
As uncertainty over Covid-free certificates for expatriates returning to Kerala continues, the state on Thursday told the Union Government that it is ready to provide TrueNat testing kits to check expats before they board the flights.
TrueNat test is usually used to detect tuberculosis and the Indian Council of Medical Research had recently recommended this also for widening the range of options for testing Covid-19 patients. Though TrueNat kit is expensive, it can test samples and provide results within 60 to 120 minutes and sample collection is safe when comparing to two other tests - RT-PCR and rapid anti-body tests, experts say.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state will provide these kits to Indian missions where testing facilities are not available. He said the state chief secretary has written to the foreign secretary about this.
“These tests can be done only through embassies and the Union government will have to help us on this. We have already made it clear tests are necessary for all air passengers coming to the state. As we stick to it we suggested this option to the centre,” the CM said.
He also said the state was in favour of tests from the very beginning. When asked what will be done with those testing positive, he said the Centre will have to make arrangements for them.
His earlier suggestion that the civil aviation ministry may operate separate flights for Covid-19 positive flights was severely criticized by opposition parties and expatriates. “Even primary school students know that no airport will entertain positive patients at this juncture. The CM has no idea about what he is talking about. He wants to delay flights of poor diaspora communities,” state BJP president K Surendran.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala is holding a one-day fast before the state secretariat on Friday urging the state not to delay flights of expatriates. “According to the latest report 228 Keralites died abroad. Many of these lives could have been saved if the Centre and state took a proactive stand in the early days of pandemic,” said Chennithala.
The tiff between state and centre over Covid-free certificates affected 149 Vande Bharat and 171 chartered flights being planned in one-month time. Last week the state had issued an order making a certificate mandatory for all foreign travellers coming to the state.
Meanwhile, Kerala reported one death and 97 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday. Out of 2,793 virus cases 1,400 are active cases, said the CM. The death of a 28-year-old man, who had no co-morbid complaints, in north Kerala’s Kannur district has shocked harried health officials in the state. A driver with the state excise department he tested positive four days ago and his condition deteriorated and died on Thursday morning.
“The deceased had no previous illness history. We have no idea from where he contracted it. We are in a race to collect his contact history. His family members and friends have already been quarantined,” said Kannur district medical officer (DMO) Dr Narayana Naik. “The young man’s death has shocked health officials.”
