The district reported 17 COVID-19 cases on Friday — the highest single-day spike so far — even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that restrictions would be tightened in the capital, given the ‘serious situation.’

More containment zones also emerged in the district on Friday, which included several areas in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation limits; Connemara Market, Saphalyam Complex and Paris Lane in the Palayam ward; Athani Lane in the Vanchiyoor ward; and the Poonthura ward. Vazhuthoor in Neyyattinkara municipality and Thalayal in Balaramapuram grama panchayat are the other containment zones.

Seventeen people tested positive in the district on Friday, including three members of a family, a police officer attached to the AR Camp, and three men hailing from Tamil Nadu. The highest single-day spike thus far in the district had been 14 cases reported on June 3.

The nephew of a fish worker from Poonthura who tested positive on July 1 also has tested positive for COVID-19. The 38-year-old from Manacaud was infected through contact with his uncle.

From Neyyattinkara

The other COVID-19 positive cases included a 47-year-old man from Neyyattinkara who returned from Kuwait, his one-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter.

A 46-year-old police officer from Nagaroor attached to the AR Camp has tested positive. He had served at the AR Camp, the Secretariat premises, and Anayara. A CRPF jawan from Vellanad who returned from Jammu and Kashmir and a 25-year-old woman from Kozhivila, Parassala, who has no travel history, have tested positive.

Three men from Tamil Nadu who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram from Saudi Arabia and UAE and several NoRKs from Nedumangad, Varkala, Ayiroor, Nemom, Kulathummal tested positive on Friday.

A 37-year-old man from Thirumala who arrived from Chennai by road also tested positive.

Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, who held a review meeting on Friday, underlined the need for heightened vigilance, but ruled out locking down the district. Steps have been initiated for doubling the number of tests in the district, including antigen tests, he said.

The police have registered cases against 60 persons under the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, 2020, for violation of COVID-19 restrictions.