The COVID-19 cases continue to spiral in the district with 57 people testing positive on Sunday.
Among the fresh cases, 39, including four health employees, contracted the disease through contact (local transmission). Ten people had arrived from abroad, while seven came from other States.
A Pulinkunnu native who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 posthumously last week was added to the list of COVID-19 deaths in the State.
Of the people who contracted the disease through local transmission include eight persons on the contact list of a vegetable vendor from Kayamkulam who tested positive last week. So far, 45 people directly or indirectly associated with the Kayamkulam market have been diagnosed with the disease. This includes the vegetable vendor, two fish vendors, and persons on their contact lists.
Another 18 people on the contact list of an employee at a seafood company at Ezhupunna, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 a few days ago, were found to have contracted the disease on Sunday. Between July 9 and July 11, 13 employees of the company were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The number of contact cases related to a pregnant woman — a native of Pallithode in the Kuthiathode grama panchayat who was diagnosed with the disease on July 4 — is increasing, with six more people on her contact list being tested positive for the infection. A boy hailing from Venmony; a 49-year-old woman from Punnapra; a young man from Thamarakulam; and four health staff too contracted the disease through local transmission.
Of the cases from foreign countries, three had come from Kuwait, three from Saudi Arabia, two from Qatar, and one each from the UAE and Oman. Patients from other States include two from Delhi, two from Tamil Nadu, and one each from Maharashtra, Hyderabad, and Goa.
ITBP unit
District Collector A. Alexander said samples would be collected from all the personnel at the Nooranad unit of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and sent for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Earlier, three grama panchayats — Nooranad, Palamel, and Thamarakulam — were declared as large cluster/containment zones after 54 ITBP personnel tested positive for COVID-19. However, no fresh cases were reported from the unit on Sunday. According to officials, the unit houses more than 350 personnel. So far, swab samples from 210 have been sent for testing.
Following a surge in COVID-19 cases in parts of Alappuzha, the District Collector has issued an order appointing teachers under the Education Department to various primary health centres in the district. The teachers will be entrusted with COVID-19 prevention work, said an official.
Ward 9 in the Ramankary grama panchayat has been declared as containment zone.
