KOCHI: Heightening the concerns of health department officials over pandemic containment, West Kochi remains to be burning hot with 30 more local contact cases being reported from the area on Wednesday. Adding six more Navy officials to the list, Ernakulam reported 121 Covid-19 cases on the day.Except the five persons who arrived from other states or abroad, 116 contracted the virus through local contact. Of them, 30 were residents of Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Kumbalangi, Palluruthy and Thoppumpady areas. District health department officials attribute the close demographic feature as the major reason behind the spiralling trend in the region.
“The rise is expected as per the projections of our Covid surveillance unit. Most of the households in these areas have an average of four persons and they live in proximity. Being a close demographic community, the department has implemented active surveillance and sentinel surveillance in each containment zone based on the high-risk categories.
Special focus is given on senior citizens, pregnant women and comorbid persons,” said Dr N K Kuttappan, District Medical Officer. Pointing to the declining trend in Aluva cluster, he remained upbeat about controlling the spread in Fort Kochi cluster soon. “Like how cases subsided in local bodies under the Aluva cluster, we are closely monitoring the situation in Fort Kochi and its outskirts.” he said.
Death audit in dist
As the district has witnessed 29 Covid-19 deaths so far, the health department has started Covid death audit to find out the nuances of each death. “Even if the person tested positive after death, we cannot confirm it as Covid death due to several reasons. Many of these deaths are dependent on the age and immunity status of the patient. Due to comorbidity, many of these patients might not have succumbed to Covid alone. The thorough study will help us in treatment as well,” said the DMO.
1 more Covid death
Kochi: Thankappan, 70, who had been undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at Ernakulam Medical College Hospital, died on Wednesday. The North Paravoor native was admitted with pneumonia and had been suffering from kidney problems and stroke for a long time. With this, the total number of Covid deaths in the district has risen to 30.