The death toll due to COVID-19 in the district continued to rise after a 44-year-old Chirayinkeezhu native, who died on July 18, was confirmed to have been infected on Friday.
Eleven deaths have so far been officially attributed to the disease in the capital district. The deceased, who hailed from Mudapuram, was admitted to the Governmedant Medical College Hospital for kidney ailments.
The daily COVID-19 case count fell significantly by 55 from Thursday’s count with 167 people, including five health workers, testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. A hundred and one persons recovered from the illness. However, the government assessed that the existing restrictions cannot be withdrawn.
During his briefing, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan pointed out that the rate of infection remained high in the five large clusters formed in Poonthura, Pulluvila, Puthukurichy, Anjuthengu and Beemapally. Worryingly, the pandemic showed signs of spreading beyond the supposed boundaries of the Pulluvila, Puthukurichy and Anjuthengu clusters. The test positivity rate in Pulluvila stood at 42.92% after 288 people tested positive among 671 people who were subjected to testing.
Among the fresh cases, 156 people contracted the infection through local transmission. The number of active cases stood at 2,650 in the district. The number of infected police officials continued to rise as three more were diagnosed with COVID-19. They included a civil police officer attached to the State Police Intelligence headquarters, a personnel of the Armed Reserve camp who was deployed for duty at Poonthura, and an official of the telecommunication wing in the office of the District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram Rural).
More among the security staff of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple tested positive. Three commandos attached to the Indian Reserve Battalion and a temple employee were found to be on infected. Their swab samples were collected on July 18. In all, 12 security staff members were diagnosed with the disease in the temple.
A city-based journalist and employee of a vernacular daily tested positive during random testing conducted among mediapersons. Around 10 of his colleagues were quarantined. Two doctors of the Government Taluk Hospitals in Nemom and Parassala, were found infected.
FLTCs
The Chief Minister said a total of 2,103 beds were readied in 17 COVID-19 First-Line Treatment Centres (FLTCs) in various parts of the district. Another 1,817 beds would be made available in another 18 FLTCs that were identified for the purpose.
