THRISSUR: Thrissur has been put on high alert as 14 of the 25 people confirmed to have Covid-19 in the district on Thursday got infected through local contact, indicating the possibility of a community spread.
Of the new cases, four are sanitation workers of Thrissur corporation and four others are headload workers at Central Warehouse, Kuriachira. In addition, five health workers including an ambulance driver were also confirmed with the infection here.
An undertrial prisoner lodged at Viyyur jail but was released on parole during the lockdown was the other person who got infected through contact. Though his source of infection is not known, he was under quarantine after returning to the jail on completion of the parole period.
In the past couple of days, the district has witnessed a spike in Covid-19 cases, including infection through local contact. So far, the district administration has not been able to trace the source of infection of the 87-year-old Engandiyur native who died on June 7. The source of infection of the dental surgeon at Vadanappally has also not been identified, but health officials suspect that he must have got the infection during his travel to Kozhikode district or through one of his patients.
District Medical Officer K J Reena said, “We should look at these cases as hints of community spread so that further action plan can be devised. What is notable is the fact that none of the 14 persons who got infected through local contact showed any Covid-19 symptoms.” The samples of headload workers, sanitation workers and health workers were taken as a part of sentinel surveillance.
“The sanitation workers were deployed in the Covid control cell and involved in sanitation activities in containment zones and houses of infected persons. Of the five health workers, four were in the primary contact list of the dental surgeon and the other is an ambulance driver. The headload workers at the Central Warehouse obviously came into contact with truck drivers from other states and they could have got the infection from them,” she said. In this scenario, the district administration is likely to expand sentinel surveillance.