Kerala: Bid on to trace baby’s virus contact

Malappuram: State health authorities will conduct an epidemiological study to trace the source of infection of the 4-month-old baby girl from Manjeri who died of Covid-19 at Kozhikode medical college hospital last week.
Naiha Fathima, daughter of a native of Payyanad near Manjeri, tested positive for Covid-19 virus infection on April 21 and she died on April 24 at medical college hospital.But, the authorities are yet to trace the source of infection on the baby. The child’s parents and other family members who had close contact with the child and the doctors who treated the girl for many weeks, have already tested negative for coronavirus infection.

The epidemiological study is being conducted to trace all persons who maintained contact with the girl and to anyalyse nature of interaction of each person with the deceased baby. The state health administration has directed a team of medical officers of community medicine department of government medical college to begin the study.
The team will conduct a detailed field study to assess the contacts of the child during the last few weeks and detailed statements from local residents in the region will be collected. The team will also conduct a detailed study on the route map of the girl child.
District medical officer Dr K Sakkeena said that the team has been directed to submit the study report within one week. “The study is expected to give a clear picture on how the girl got infection. It will help avoid confusion regarding the infection of the child,” she said.
Earlier, her father Ashraf Payyanad had demanded authorities to trace the source of infection, as the family members and doctors tested negative for the infection and he had also demanded that the test result of body fluids collected from the baby after her death be published. “It is unbelievable that her mother and other women of our family who provided care to the baby for many days were negative. They maintained physical contact with baby for many hours even after confirming the infection,” he said.
Meanwhile, one more person, who tested positive for Covid, was discharged from hospital in Malappuram district. Mundathodi Jafar, 30, native of Kuruvattissery near Ozhur was discharged from Manjeri medical college hospital on Wednesday morning. 82 more persons were brought under observation in the district on Wednesday and the total number of persons are under observation is 1,554.