THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The dreaded community transmission of Covid-19 was officially confirmed in two coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram district on Friday. It happened on a day Kerala recorded its highest single-day spike of Covid cases at 791. The alarming turn the pandemic has taken in Thiruvananthapuram was evident as 96 per cent of the people who tested positive in the district on Friday got infected through local transmission.
In his daily briefing on the Covid-19 situation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state had anticipated the community transmission phase of the disease. “The situation is under control. It’s not alarming like what’s seen in other cities in the country,” said Pinarayi.
He said there was no need to panic but stressed the need to exercise caution.The two areas in the state capital where community transmission was confirmed are Pulluvila in Karumkulam panchayat and Poonthura under Thiruvananthapuram corporation limits.
The extent of the spread could be gauged from the fact that more than half of the samples tested from these two areas on Thursday turned positive. Other coastal areas in the district also remained vulnerable as more than 20 per cent of the samples tested turned positive for Covid-19.
The chief minister said the government was not considering a complete lockdown in the capital but was adopting a cluster management strategy. He said the government was trying to contain the disease within the worst-affected areas. On a positive note, the chief minister said the alarming spread of the disease was confined only to those areas which are under triple lockdown.
The prevention measures to be adopted by the government included total lockdown in coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram, which will be officially announced on Saturday.
Coastal areas to be divided into 3 zones
The coastal areas will be divided into three areas and the City Police Commissioner has been appointed the special officer to oversee the Covid prevention measures and a dedicated control room will be opened in the worst-affected areas.Local transmission cases also rose sharply across the state accounting for more than 67 per cent of the cases reported on Friday. In Ernakulam, 76 of the 115 new cases were due to local transmission. In a worrisome development, the sources of infection of 42 people remained unknown. As many as 15 health workers were also among the new patients.