West Kochi declared containment zone

Twenty-one persons from the region test positive for SARS-CoV-2; district records 128 cases on Sunday

As many as 21 persons from the West Kochi area tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Sunday.

A 62-year-old from Kalvathy in West Kochi, who collapsed and died on Friday night, tested positive after death. The death, however, does not figure in the official release of the State government pending confirmation.

He used to run a small shop in the area and had shown slight symptoms of a fever, said Zeenath Rasheed, local councillor. The Kalvathy division accounts for several of the COVID-19 positive cases in West Kochi, she added.

BOT bridge closed

District Collector S. Suhas said the BOT bridge at Thoppumpady connecting West Kochi to the mainland would remain closed.

With divisions 16 and 18 of the Kochi Corporation being added to the list of containment zones, all divisions from 1 to 28 of the corporation are now containment zones. A total of 80 cases have been reported from the area so far, said Corporation Secretary R. Rahul.

A total of 128 persons tested positive for the virus in the district on Sunday. Of them, 85 acquired the infection through local transmission. Six persons from a home for the elderly and destitute in Thrikkakara have tested positive. An infant, just eight days old, from Koothattukulam, has tested positive. Four others from Koothattukulam have also been infected.

Four staff nurses at the Ernakulam General Hospital who tested positive on Saturday have been included in the district’s tally. A health worker and a staff nurse at the Piravom Taluk Hospital and a 51-year-old health worker at the District Hospital, Aluva, have also tested positive.

Other positive patients are from Choornikkara, Kottuvally, Nellikuzhi, Kadungalloor, Kottapady, and Edathala. Of the 43 persons who arrived from outside the State and tested positive, 35 are from Tamil Nadu.

The source of infection in four patients is uncertain.

As many as 36 persons recovered from the disease and tested negative on Sunday. A total of 11,384 people remain in quarantine in the district, and 978 patients are being treated for the disease. For testing, 643 samples were sent on Sunday, and the results of 711 swabs remain pending.

The death of a 70-year-old from Aluva at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, on Sunday could not be categorised as COVID-related death, as he had tested negative twice before he died of other ailments, hospital officials said.

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