Six wards marked top priority ‘high-risk areas’ in corp limits

Thiruvananthapuram: The health department has identified six wards as top priority ‘high-risk areas’ in corporation limits in its report on clusters of Covid-19 infection.
The report on clusters, which was prepared by the health department, notes that the index case in two largest clusters in the Capital; Poonthura and Kumarichantha was a fish merchant. The report says that he was the source of infection for 13 other cases. In addition, he also used to visit many other households.
In Kumarichantha, fish for sale were unloaded from trucks that came from Tamil Nadu. Fishermen from Poonthura area came into contact with truck drivers and headload workers in this area. Most of the cases reported from this area were fish vendors, the report notes. The family of the fish merchant however said that only seven members in their family have tested positive. The fish merchant tested negative within five days of hospitalization, the family members said. He has been brought home. The family members said that some of the persons he had close contact with including his brothers, his driver and some other members in the same family had not tested positive.
As regarding the cluster at Attukal, the report shows that the auto-driver cum tele-serial actor who had travelled extensively in Attukal, Manacaud Konchiravila and Kalady, eventually transmitted the infection to eight other people. He had frequent visits from relatives from Kuzhithurai, Tamil Nadu. There is potential history of contact with commuters from Tamil Nadu. This cluster also involves two healthcare workers in the private hospital he had visited at Attukal.
As many as 24 wards in the city have been identified to have higher risk of cases due to density of contacts, potential sources and epidemiological linkages. This list also includes city wards like Medical College, Vanchiyur, Fort, Manacaud, Attukal and Palayam.
As per the decision of the review meeting convened by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on July 6, it has been proposed to conduct 2,500 antigen tests and 2,500 immunoassay tests in high risk wards in corporation. According to the advisory of health department, immunoassay tests are intended for qualitative detection of antibodies to SARS CoV-2 in human serum. The test is meant to aid in identifying individuals with an adaptive immune response to the disease indicating recent or prior infection. This test has an overall specificity greater than 99.8% and overall sensitivity of 100% in detection of antibodies including IgG.
The advisory notes that the high specificity of the test is crucial to determine reliably if a person has been exposed to the virus and if the person has developed antibodies. Two key objectives will be to detect any local transmission in specific containment zones and to provide epidemiological insights at specific clusters.