Lakshadweep reports 1st COVID-19 positive case

Kochi, Jan 18 (PTI): The first COVID-19 case wasreported in the Lakshadweep Islands on Monday, nearly an yearafter the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

The man, belonging to the India Reserve Batallion, hadleft for Kavaratti by ship from Kochi on January 3 and testedpositive on Monday, official sources said.

He is not a resident of the islands, they said.

The case was reported two weeks after the Lakshadweepadministration revised Standard Operating Procedures by doingaway with mandatory quarantine guidelines for those arrivingfrom Kochi.

The islands had so far not reported a single positiveCOVID-19 case.

Taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus, theadministration has directed all those who had come in contactwith him to go on quarantine, they said.

The samples of his primary contacts have been taken forlab examination, officials said.

The administration also suspended all the inter islandmovements, including ships from Tuesday, they said.

It had recently relaxed the SOP.

In a communication, the administration had said anyonecan now visit the islands from the mainland with a negativetest report of RT-PCR obtained 48 hours before travel.