The COVID-19 situation is turning grim in parts of Alappuzha with 87 people testing positive for the disease on Saturday.
In a big spike in locally transmitted cases, 52 more people, including five health employees, contracted the disease through contact (local transmission). While 19 had returned from abroad, 16 persons, including two Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel at Nooranad unit, came from other States.
According to officials with the Health Department, three major COVID-19 clusters have been created in the district, which includes northern parts of Alappuzha (Cherthala taluk), Nooranad, and Kayamkulam municipality. “A surge in cases through local transmission and cases with unknown sources of infections are causes for huge concern,” said an official.
At least 13 employees of a seafood factory at Ezhupunna have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. A 49-year-old man hailing from Pulinkunnu, who is an employee of the factory, was the first to test positive on Thursday while 12 were found to have contracted the disease on Saturday. The Pulinkunnu native’s source of infection is unknown. Another 20 people associated with the husband of a pregnant woman from Pallithode, who was found to have contracted COVID-19 last week, tested positive on Saturday.
Health staff too
Five health staff members, who conducted medical examinations of the pregnant woman at Taluk Hospital, Cherthala, too contracted the disease, besides three in her contact. District Collector A. Alexander has declared the entire Cherthala taluk a containment zone and imposed a lockdown in its limits. Apart from the Cherthala taluk, three grama panchayats — Nooranad, Palamel, and Thamarakulam — have been declared as large cluster/containment zones after 54 ITBP personnel at Nooranad unit tested positive for COVID-19 between July 6 and July 11.
The situation continues to remain worrisome at Kayamkulam, where nine more people on the contact list of a person associated with the Kayamkulam market, who tested positive two weeks ago, contracted SARS-CoV-2. So far, 37 people directly or indirectly related to the Kayamkulam market have tested positive. Ward 1 in Alappuzha municipality, ward 1 in Puliyoor, ward 13 in Ala, and wards 2 and 3 in Vallikunnam panchayat have also been declared as containment zones.
