MALAPPURAM: Dist records biggest single-day spike in Covid cases; docs predict sharp rise in new cases from first week of July
With 47 new cases, Malappuram district on Saturday registered the biggest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases that a district in the state has ever recorded till date. The health department officials in the district said the record single-day spike was an indicator that the number of Covid positive cases in the state might dangerously go up in the coming weeks and the major contributor to the rise will be Malappuram district. “In the coming days, especially from the first week of July, we will see a sharp rise in new Covid positive cases in the state as the number of people returning from foreign countries and other states is rising.
If the number of cases increases sharply, Malappuram district will be the major contributor to the rise. Factors like a high number of NRK population will increase the number of cases from the district,” said Dr Shinas Babu, the nodal officer of the Covid Special Treatment Centre at the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH), Manjeri.
The doctor also said the number of people contracting the virus through contact is also on the rise in the district. Also, several samples taken through the sentinel surveillance system have also come out positive. “This rise in cases of patients with local contacts might be giving an indication of the community transmission. However, we cannot confirm community spread across the district. Yet, some areas in the district might be at high risk,” Dr Babu added.
Malappuram District Medical Officer K Sakeena said that the positive test results through sentinel surveillance is an indication that we should consider everyone in the district as having high risk of contracting the virus. She has also begun a study based on the 47 new cases reported on the day. “Considering the biggest single-day spike, we have begun a study on the new cases.
The study report will be submitted to the state government. After that the government might introduce more restrictions in the district,” Sakeena said. Among the 47 fresh cases, four people were confirmed to have infected the virus through local contact. Five patients in the district were identified through the swab tests conducted as part of the sentinel surveillance system.