THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Onam accelerated the Covid-19 spread at Rajaji Nagar with the daily count moving into double digits after the festival season. Now families with Covid patients in the huge slum pocket are facing uncertainty as the ration goods are proving insufficient for survival. “Most families here have a lone breadwinner, who would be a daily wager,” said A G Sarath, a member of the youth brigade for Covid control at Rajaji Nagar.While patients are getting good medical care, less attention is paid to the family’s survival, said the 28-year-old.
“When one member contracts the virus, all others in the family have to go into quarantine. We wish the government provides us assistance on the lines of the relief offered to coastal areas. We also appeal to institutions and kind-hearted individuals to help the struggling families,” he said.Until mid-July, the Nagar stood insulated from the pandemic through effective “break the chain” practices. It barred outsiders from entering the area by tying ropes across its seven entry points. Only essential visitors were allowed. But the situation changed during the festival season, said local councillor M V Jayalekshmi.
“Until Onam, only a few cases were reported at Rajaji Nagar. The first two were corporation sanitation workers with no local transmission. But during Onam, the restrictions were thrown to the wind as people went to the markets for festival purchase and visitors came in large numbers,” she said.The councillor said that local contact cases too were on the rise. The health department conducts 50 tests on alternate days at the Nagar. Among the cases reported on Friday were a woman and her five-month-old baby, who are suspected local contact cases. The health department is giving them home care as it would be safes and more convenient for them.
The councillor shared her worries of a new trend at Rajaji Nagar -- people refusing to share contact details.
“They don’t want to speak about their contacts as they will be asked to go into quarantine, leaving them jobless. Also, there are patients who didn’t share their contact details for fear of making their contacts angry. This poses a risk to control measures,” she said. Only around 35 people turned up for testing on Friday as against a target of 50, she said.“This indifference is new,” she said.There are around 45 active Covid cases at Rajaji Nagar.
Capital’s death toll crosses 150-mark
T’Puram: The capital district on Monday had 332 new Covid-19 cases. However, 415 people recovered from the illness on the day. The district currently has a total of 5,120 active cases. The infected on the day include 16 health workers and 313 cases of local transmission. The source of infection of 55 cases remains unknown. Three deaths were confirmed as due to Covid on the day. With this, the total deaths due to Covid in the district rose to 151.
Stringent norms for migrant workers returning to state
T’Puram: The government has tightened the norms for employing migrant workers. The migrant workers returning to the state will have to undergo 14-day quarantine before joining work. As per the guidelines issued by the government all workers need to register at Covid-19 Jagratha portal before arrival and their permission is dependent on the facility available at the local level. The onus is on the contractors to provide clean and safe quarantine facility. The local body authorities will check the facility provided by the contractor. The contractors will also have to bear the expense of conducting antigen tests of workers returning without a Covid negative certificate. They have to bear the expense of boarding of technical consultants. The Covid tests for these consultants would be held within 96 hours of arrival.