For representational purposes (File Photo | PTI)
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Karumkulam panchayat is fast turning to be the epicentre of fresh Covid cases in the district. Eight wards in the panchayat have now reported positive cases through local transmission. However, most of them are primary and secondary contacts of the three patients who tested positive earlier from the region. While 22 cases were officially announced taking into account the numbers till Wednesday morning, another 51 tested positive later in the day from the region, taking the active cases in the panchayat to 101.
“The 51 cases were reported from 142 tests. The population density is a major factor in the sudden spike with many patients coming from same houses. When we did random tests across the panchayat, more cases were reported from these eight wards,” said a health official.Tests were done on shopkeepers, ration shop staff, autorickshaw drivers and many others working in essential services. In two days, three autorickshaw drivers tested positive. They have transported positive patients earlier.
Meanwhile, causing further concern, the driver in Karumkulam panchayat office also tested positive. This has forced the staff, secretary and panchayat president Anilkumar George to go into quarantine. They have tested negative.“The office has been disinfected and we have screened all the people who came in contact with him. He lives in Pulluvila and is assumed to have contracted the virus from there,” said Anil George, Karumkulam panchayat president.
