KASARGOD: Another funeral is likely to be declared a Covid cluster in Kasaragod. This time in Chemnad panchayat.Twenty relatives from five close-knit families who attended the funeral of Abbas Kalarikkal (80) at Chemnad (ward 1) have tested positive for Covid-19, said a health official of the panchayat. Of the 20, 18 are in Chemnad panchayat, and two are from Nellikkunnu in Kasaragod town.
As of now, none of the neighbours or outsiders who attended the funeral have tested positive. “All the 20 infected persons are relatives of Abbas’s wife. But neither Abbas’s wife nor his children have not tested positive,” said the official.But the health officials have spread their net wide to identify and isolate those who attended the funeral and their contacts.
Transmission at 2 events
Chemnad panchayat’s junior health inspector Raveendran Pulikkal said the family had a wedding engagement at Chekarankode on July 12 and the funeral happened at Chirakal on July 17. “Both the places are 500m apart in Ward 1. Both the events could have become a Covid transmission point because the same set of relatives attended both the events,” he said.Abbas’s neighbour and panchayat staff said the family organised another ritual on July 19, which was attended only by relatives.
“The funeral was held following the Covid protocol. But the relatives might have dropped their guard during the in-house family meet on July 19,” said the employee, who had attended the funeral. His samples turned negative on Monday.
The chronology
The first case from the supposed cluster was reported on July 22. The widow’s brother’s son, who returned home from Kochi for the engagement tested positive. The next day, on July 23, his father, sister, and his maternal grandmother tested positive for Covid. All live in the same house. The same day, the widow’s another sister at Nellikkunnu in Kasaragod town and her relative tested positive. They had also attended the funeral and the ritual.
On July 25, the widow’s another sister, her son, his wife, and the couple’s son tested positive. They live in Koliyadukam (ward 5), four km from Abbas’s house.The young couple of Koliyadukam runs a textile store from their house and uses WhatsApp groups to showcase their products. They recently went to Kochi to stock up their store, said the panchayat employee. On Monday, July 27, 11 members of two other brothers of Abbas’s wife tested positive. “That’s when I was convinced the funeral or the engagement has become a cluster,” said Pulikkal.The panchayat employee and Abbas’s neighbour said Chemnad (ward no. 1) was a thickly populated place but there were no Covid cases before this outbreak.