The district’s highest single-day spike in COVID-19 patients crossed 100 on Wednesday with 133 persons testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.
It includes 116 contact cases (87.2%), one health worker, 11 non-resident Keralites (NoRKs) and five persons with no travel history. With this, the number of total active cases in the district has gone up to 671 while 7,443 persons are under COVID-19 monitoring.
The Health Department has traced 4,665 primary and 1,671 secondary contacts of the fresh cases. A doctor from a private hospital is also among the new patients.
The District Collector confirmed that the sample of the 75-year-old woman, who had drowned in the Kallada river on July 10, tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.
Clusters
Eighteen persons contracted the disease at Kottarakara Muslim Street that had reported over twenty cases on Tuesday. Kollam currently has clusters at Chavara, Sasthamcotta, Eravipuram, Nendumpana, Anchal, Yeroor, Edamulackal, Thalachira, Pozhikara, Alappad, Chithara, and Elamadu.
“The infection is spreading at parts where the community members were not following physical-distancing norms. We have started a door-to-door awareness campaign at such places and samples of primary contacts and those from high-risk category are being collected,” said an official.
At present, intensive testing is going on in all clusters and some coastal regions that reported consistent cases.
Caseload is expected to be higher in the coming four to five days owing to local transmission, but health officials say efficient containment measures have been initiated.
“All these places are under triple lockdown and since there is restriction on movement, chances for spreading are very low. We have already listed the contacts of the current cases and placed them in quarantine,” said the official.
