The Covid work in Kerala’s Malappuram district took a turn for the worse when District Collector K.Gopalakrishnan, his deputy and 21 other of his staff in the collectorate turned Covid positive on Friday.
This new development comes at a time when the district Police chief Abdul Karim tested Covid positive on Thursday.
Gopalakrishnan on August 7 took an active part in the operations following the crash landing of the Air India Express flight from Dubai in a gorge at the Karipur airport in Kozhikode. However, he had gone into self-isolation after that and he tested positive on Friday.
Malappuram has the second-highest number of Covid positive cases — 1,965 cases, after the state capital district.
At the same time, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja on Friday tested negative for Covid-19, as per a rapid antigen test.
Earlier on Friday, Vijayan announced that he and seven of his cabinet colleagues have decided to go into self-isolation after Malappuram Collector K. Gopalakrishnan tested Covid positive.
However, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who had accompanied Vijayan to Kozhikode to visit the survivors of the Air India Express flight from Dubai, which skidded off the runway and fell into a gorge on Friday evening leaving 18 dead, and inspect the accident site, will not isolate himself.
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Gopalakrishnan had been coordinating the rescue and relief operations at the accident site.
In a WhatsApp message, Vijayan said the others who will be going into isolation are Shailaja, Local Administration Minister A.C. Moideen, Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan, Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunilkumar, Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel, Ports Minister Kadanapally Ramachandran and Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran.
Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta will also isolate himself.
Consequently, it was decided that Vijayan will not unfurl the tricolour at the main Independence Day function here, with Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran stepping in for him, in the ceremony which will last only 10 minutes.
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