Twenty-three persons, including four members of a family, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the district on Tuesday. Among the patients eight persons had come from abroad while one had travelled from Maharashtra. Fourteen others, all of them suspected contact cases, include three men aged 54, 31, and 20 and a 50-year-old woman from a family in Nedumankavu. Five others from Rajagiri, Sasthamcotta, are suspected to have contactracted the disease from a fish vendor who tested positive on July 6.
Rest of the patients are a 36-year-old Paravur resident, a four-year-old from Chavara Thekkumbhagam, a 48-year-old health worker from Muttara, a 28-year-old Punalur resident, and a 38-year-old Thevalakkara resident with no travel history.
After the district recorded the highest single-day spike on Monday, the Health Department and district administration had reinforced preventive measures. Auto and taxi drivers have been asked to separate the driver’s cabin with acrylic sheet and use mask, gloves and sanitiser without fail. All the harbours and auction centres have been closed and marine fishing has been banned.
The Health Department has increased the number of daily tests and Mercy Hospital, Valakom, has been converted into a centre for treating COVID-19 patients.
