In a record single-day spike, the district logged 501 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
Among the fresh cases, 450 patients contracted the disease through local transmission. Thirty two people who came from other States, 17 from abroad, and two health staff also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The number of locally transmitted cases continue to move on an upward trajectory in Alappuzha municipality with 105 fresh cases registered on Wednesday.
Punnapra (30), Mannancherry (29), Krishnapuram (21), Arattuppuzha (21), Ambalappuzha (20), Kayamkulam (19), and Purakkad (18) reported a high number of contact cases.
Meanwhile, 167 people who were undergoing treatment for the disease in hospitals in the district tested negative. The active COVID-19 caseload in the district stands at 3,190.
Officials said among the COVID-19 patients only those with serious symptoms would be admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Alappuzha. District Collector A. Alexander who chaired a meeting of MCH and Health Department officials suggested that patients currently admitted to the MCH with mild COVID-19 symptoms should be shifted to first-line treatment centres (FLTCS). This would release beds for admitting more critical patients.
COVID-19 patients have been divided into three categories-A, B and C. “Only patients in the C category (seriously ill) and those in the B category (mild symptoms) who need emergency attention will be admitted to the MCH. Rest of the patients in B and A categories will be admitted at the FLCTs,” said an official.
In view of the surge in cases, the meeting decided to set up second-line treatment centres in different places in the district.
