The district’s single day spike crossed 300 for the first time with a total of 328 people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Sunday.
The new patients include 302 contact cases, six health workers, nine persons from abroad and 11 others who had travelled from different Indian States.
The Health Department has also confirmed that the death of a 70-year-old Kaikulangara resident is due to COVID-19. He had died on September 1.
The health workers who contracted the infection include two employees of Kollam District Hospital who are residents of Thrissur and Pathanamthitta.
Among the others are a 49-year-old Anchal resident working at Thycaud Government Hospital and 28-year-old Pattazhy resident working at Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
A 33-year-old Karunagappally resident attached to Alappuzha Medical College Hospital and a Thrikovilvattam resident who has been working at a private dental clinic in Paravur are also among the health workers who tested positive.
1,727 active cases
Kollam at present has 1,727 active cases and 12 COVID-19 first-line treatment centres are functioning in the district. While the number of recoveries on Sunday is 204, the highest number of cases were reported from Kollam Corporation.
Before Sunday, the highest single-day tally was reported on Friday when 248 persons tested positive. The caseload in the district started going up after August 29 with 234 new patients and the number was 170 on Saturday.
Kollam district currently has 15,550 persons under observation and the total number of samples collected is 47,265.
While 888 persons completed home quarantine on Sunday, the Health Department has traced 20,298 primary and 5,287 secondary contacts of the positive cases.
Meanwhile, District Collector B.Abdul Nasar has instructed all private and cooperative hospitals with more than 100 beds to set up a temporary ICU to admit emergency patients.
The hospitals have been also asked to set up COVID-19 wards for patients with serious health issues who test positive. The hospitals will also form a 24-hour infection control team and the permission of District Medical Officer should be sought before shifting patients in serious conditions to government facilities.
Directive
All super specialty hospitals in the district have been directed to start suspect wards, suspect ICUs, confirmed wards and confirmed ICUs for treating patients. All private and cooperative hospitals should charge only the rate fixed by government for COVID-19 treatment.
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