The Chellanam cluster remained a major area of concern, where 50 of the 268 RT-PCR tests conducted among symptomatic people and primary contacts had returned positive, District Collector S. Suhas said in an online briefing on Monday.
A first-line treatment centre would begin functioning in the area soon, he said.
Extensive list
An ASHA worker, who was also a member of the Chellanam panchayat, had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 late on Sunday night. Like most other ASHA workers in the area, she had been part of a recent survey of symptomatic people in Chellanam, said panchayat president Mercy Josy. Her contact list is extensive. “She had visited the panchayat, and other ASHA workers might also be on her contact list. They are awaiting instructions on whether they must go into quarantine,” she said.
The Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Chellanam, which was shut after the staff members were asked to go into quarantine, might begin functioning from Tuesday onwards with a new set of staff, health officials said. For a panchayat with limited facilities, closing of the PHC had been a major blow, Ms. Josy said. The 32 ASHA workers of the area along with a team of volunteers and some police personnel were trying to get groceries and medicines to residents. A revenue official said that the village office consisted of staff largely from Alappuzha, and most of them had not been working from the office.
The Collector ordered on Monday that a rapid response team comprising health and revenue officials, and police personnel be stationed at Chellanam.
The team will regulate the movement of goods vehicles and manpower necessary to keep essential services running. The Food and Civil Supplies Department will provide 5 kg of rice to residents in the containment zone area. A mobile medical team will also visit the area. Teachers and other government employees at Chellanam have been directed to take up COVID-related duty.
Wards 15 and 16 of the panchayat had the most number of COVID-19 cases and most people in the two wards were in home quarantine, said P. T. George, who represents ward 15.
Health officials said that the large number of positive cases in the two wards could be attributed to the fact that some of them worked on fishing boats together, and consequently, their families, who lived in close proximity in the area, had also tested positive. Their work at the harbour along with fishers from other districts could have led to the positive cases among them, they said.
Other clusters
The Aluva Market and Keezhmad clusters would have to be monitored closely, including the adjoining panchayats that fall in the buffer zone of the Aluva Municipality, the Collector said. Testing would be intensified in the Keezhmad area where 16 people had tested positive, he said. As many as 120 RT-PCR tests have been conducted in the area.
Nineteen cases could be traced to the Ernakulam market area, where 182 RT-PCR and 126 antigen tests were conducted.
“It is still an area of concern which is why the restrictions remain,” the Collector said.
Wards 12 and 20 of Alangad panchayat have been added to containment zones in the district.