KOCHI: Though Ernakulam has the lowest number of people under quarantine, the district on Wednesday found itself in the list of Covid-19 hotspots in the country. Severe restrictions are set to continue in the district until at least the next week. Even officials monitoring Covid-19 cases are surprised at the Centre’s inclusion of Ernakulam among 170 hotspots. Other hotspot districts in Kerala are Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta.
“We have no knowledge of the criteria adopted for listing the district alongside hotspots like Kasaragod and Kannur where a high number of local transmission has taken place,” an official said. “In Ernakulam, 80 per cent of the cases were detected among overseas returnees. Similarly, we had eight positive cases among foreign tourists. In more than five cases, residents of another district who arrived at the Cochin International Airport tested positive. Five cases were linked to a Gulf-returned Mattancherry native who succumbed to the novel coronavirus infection last month.”
As on Wednesday, there are 1,289 persons under observation in the district. Of this, 1,262 are under home quarantine and 27 are in hospital isolation. Currently, six persons are under treatment. One of them tested negative on Tuesday and will be released after a nod from the medical board concerned. The district has not reported any positive case in the past one week. District Medical Officer N K Kuttappan said the situation is under control in Ernakulam. He assumed the district has been placed among hotspots as a precautionary measure.
“Perhaps it’s because we have a busy airport from where a high number of overseas passengers move to different parts of the state,” he said. “Similarly, Kochi city is populated densely and is vulnerable to the easy spread of the virus. Currently, we have taken all measures including contact tracing successfully. We have no community transmission. The district has even mobilised all facilities to counter a worst scenario in future.” Restrictions are likely to continue until further evaluation. “The decision on any relaxation in the current form of the lockdown will be taken by the state government. The government has called a Cabinet meeting to evaluate the situation in the next two days. Some relaxation is expected considering the current situation,” said an official.
