THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As any other place in the state, Balaramapuram panchayat too was hit hard by the lockdown. However, the concerted effort of traders here has helped the panchayat in bringing down the test positivity rate (TPR) significantly. Till last week, the TPR was over 20 per cent in the panchayat. It was 21.7 per cent last Tuesday. However, this Tuesday, the panchayat reported 12.5 per cent TPR, all thanks to the aggressively ramped-up testing. The panchayat moved from Category C to Category B of lockdown restrictions within a short period of time.
“The sample size of Covid testing was very less and was being held in only one or two wards before. As a result, the TPR was very high. But the number could never be accurate as such a test conducted on a small sample size cannot speak for the whole panchayat,” says M Babujan, Vyapari Vyavasayi Samiti (VVS) district secretary.
The community of marketeers then sprung into action and started a campaign to increase the tests. More than 500 marketeers got themselves tested for Covid. This led to a decrease in TPR and the panchayat also took efforts to increase the sample size.“Earlier, only those who were showing symptoms were being tested. If only 25 persons are tested, and 20 of them turns positive, the TPR will be very high. Therefore we increased the number of tests and conducted it on a larger and wider scale. More testing camps were conducted and we were able to reduce the TPR,” says V Mohanan, Balaramapuram panchayat president.
Even as the panchayat moved into Category B, it was decided to restrict the timing of the shops. “The decision was taken in the panchayat council. As of now, the shops are allowed to open from 7am to 5pm. This is to reduce the rush considering the nature of the panchayat where more office goers will return after 5pm,” he said.
The marketeers are an overjoyed lot having been able to open the shops on all days henceforth. The panchayat has around 1,000 shops. “The lockdown affected the traders’ community the most. The shops remained closed on all days except one, as is stipulated in Category C. The livelihood has been affected for long. All of the traders decided to get tested. This way we could reduce the TPR,” says Abdul Salam, a trader and VVS treasurer of the Balaramapuram unit. “As the traders’ community, we are willing to abide by all protocols but despite us being more vulnerable, there hasn’t been any move to give us vaccination on a priority basis,” he said.
Thiruvananthapuram reports 1,345 new Covid cases, 1,212 recoveries
T’Puram: The district recorded 1,345 Covid-19 positive cases on Tuesday. The test positivity rate stood at 9.1 percent while 1,212 people recovered on the day. The district also registered 31 deaths on the day. Of the new patients, four are health workers. As many as 2,397 people have been placed in quarantine for Covid symptoms. Presently, there are 11,814 active cases in the district. A total of 15,16,378 vaccine doses have been administered till date in the district, of whom 11,87,398 have received the first dose while 3,28,980 have received the second dose. On Tuesday, 26,372 doses were administered in the district.