Kottayam on Friday reported the biggest single-day spike in cases with 39 persons being tested positive for the disease.
According to health officials, nine persons, including two persons from the Ettumanur fish market, contracted the disease through local contact .Of the remaining persons, 17 landed from abroad while 10 persons came from other States. With this, the number of active cases in Kottayam rose to 218.
The health workers who tested positive for the virus infection were a 44-year-old woman from Manjur who works at the Kurupanthara family health centre, a 40-year-old Bharanganam native who works as a driver at a Community health centre in Ullanadu and a 42-year-old Asha worker from Bharanganam. The contact source of the Asha worker is yet to be identified.
The persons who contracted the virus through local contact were a 37-year-old who works at the Ettumanur fish market., a 60- year-old Onamthuruth native who works at the same fish market, a 63-year-old autorickshaw driver at Pravithanam Market Junction, a 39-year-old employee of the Manjur panchayat, a 40-year-old employee of the Kothanallur quarantine centre, 59-year-old Ettumanur native, 24-year-old Pathanamthitta native and a 20-year-old woman from Kadanad. Of these, the contact sources of all but the last three persons are yet to be identified.
In view of the two workers at the fish market testing positive for virus infection, the Ettumanur municipality has decided to close down the market for an indefinite period.
Further, as many as 11 wards across nine local bodies in the district have currently been marked as containment zones.
Meanwhile, seven persons who recovered of the virus infection were discharged from the various hospitals here during the day.
