The number of COVID-19 cases continued to rise sharply in Kottayam with 80 people, including five health workers, testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Thursday.
Besides the health workers, 49 people contracted the infection through local transmission while 26 came from destinations outside the State.
At the same time, 25 people who recovered from the disease were discharged from hospitals. There are 389 active cases in the district while 298 have recovered from the disease.
Meanwhile, the clusters at various locations from Changanassery to Vaikom continued to expand with more persons on the contact list of patients testing positive. While 10 cases were added to the cluster covering the Changanassery-Paippad region, eleven persons in Chingavanam, four persons at Kumarakom, and three persons at Vaikom too contracted the infection.
Infected health workers
The five health workers who tested positive included a 53-year-old nursing assistant at the Family Health Centre at Idamaruk, a 36-year-old health worker from the Family Health Centre, Erumeli, two health workers (53 years and 26 years) at the Vaikom Taluk Hospital, and a 25-year-old doctor at the Government Hospital, Kattampak.
Of the remaining persons, the source of infection in five cases was yet to be identified.
District Collector M. Anjana and Additional District Magistrate Anil Oommen were among those who went in quarantine during the day after an office assistant at the Collectorate tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The person, who contracted the virus from unknown source, was subjected to a serum test on July 21.
Besides the Collector and the ADM, 12 others from the Collectorate too have been included on the primary contact list of the patient. The Collector and other key officials on the list will take an antigen test on Saturday.
“The office of the District Collector will continue to function as e-office and any further decision will be based on the result of the antigen test,” officials said.
