Thiruvananthapuram reported 675 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which marked the highest single-day spike in the district and the second consecutive day when the daily caseload crossed the 600-mark.
Active cases as on Wednesday stood at 5,760. The death toll has risen to 155 with one more recent death - that of a 61-year-old man from Pappanamcode who died on September 9 - attributed to the disease.
Local transmission accounted for 542 cases, while the source of infection remains uncertain in 99 cases. Cases have been reported from across the district. More than a 100 employees of a factory in Manvila have tested positive over the past three days. Fourteen cases were reported from Vattiyoorkavu, 13 from Manacaud, eleven from Vettucaud and ten from Parassala.
In recent days, the challenges faced by health officials in tackling the virus have assumed a more complex character. Contact tracing has become a difficult proposition. A scrutiny of daily caseload data reveals that the number of cases where the infection source remains vague has steadily risen from the single digits reported in the early days of the outbreak in Thiruvananthapuram.
The alarming rise in the number of health workers getting diagnosed with the disease poses another stiff challenge. So far in September, 249 health workers have tested positive.
According to health officials, the tracing of contacts of COVID-19 patients is being pursued actively.
“'We have decentralised the process. It is now being done at the block panchayat and PHC level also,”' a senior district-level health official said.
As many as 418 people tested negative on Wednesday. Meanwhile, 2,400 people were newly placed under disease surveillance.
