A massive surge in local transmission of COVID-19 in the coastal hamlets in the capital district of Thiruvananthapuram has resulted in the State recording its worst single-day spike yet and the cumulative case burden just falling short of the 9,000-mark.
Kerala reported 608 new cases on Tuesday taking the cumulative burden of the State to 8,930. If imported cases of infection accounted for 198 of the new cases, those cases reported from the community following local transmission accounted for more than double the number at 409.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed that in 26 of these “contact cases”, an epidemiological link was yet to be established.
He said the public had to come to terms with the reality that the pandemic situation was set to escalate further. The State and the people had to prepare itself for the long haul as far as COVID-19 was concerned and that the pandemic was not expected to ease before the end of the year.
Those who acquired the virus through local transmission included eight health-care workers, one Border Security Force jawan, two Indo Tibetan Border Police personnel and two Central Industrial Security Force men.
Death toll 34
The death of a 47-year-old man in Alappuzha has taken the death toll of the State to 34. With 181 recoveries reported on Tuesday, the number of active cases in the State now is 4,454. Till date, a total of 4,438 patients out of the total 8,930 have recovered so far.
Thiruvananthapuram district accounted for 201 of the 608 cases reported on Tuesday, of which 158 were cases of local transmission, including 19 cases wherein the source of infection remain unknown. The district also has the highest case burden in the State with 794 active cases.
As had been pointed out by many public health experts, the Poonthura cluster in Thiruvananthapuram has turned out to be just the tip of an iceberg and at least 200 plus km of the State’s coastal belt has emerged as one single disease transmission hub, demanding intensive containment and surveillance strategies to prevent COVID-19 spreading to the cities.
The State administration has put more coastal villages under the containment zone list, including Anchuthengu and Parassala. All facilities, including medical care and ambulance, for the public have been arranged in the critical containment zones where the regulations are stringent.
Close watch
The coastal hamlet of Chellanam in Ernakulam and its nearby villages are under the close watch of the district administration. Apart from enhancing testing in the region, a rapid action team has also been deployed in the locality .
Testing has been intensified in the coastal villages in Alappuzha also where 15 out of the 34 cases reported on Tuesday are local transmission cases.
Clusters have formed at Malappuram and Thooneri grama panchayat in Kozhikode district, where 53 persons are believed to have contracted the disease from two individuals.
The number of hotspots in the State now is 227
Mr. Vijayan claimed that the local transmission of COVID-19 was intensifying because of the laxity on the part of the people in maintaining all safety precautions and health protocols. He appealed for intensive vigil so that the local transmission can be minimised.
