Chellanam continues to reel from a surge in COVID-19 positive cases, with 20 people from the area testing positive on Tuesday.

All 20 patients were on the contact lists of those who had tested positive earlier. Since the situation remains critical, a 50-bedded COVID first line treatment centre would be set up soon at the St. Antony’s Church Hall in Chellanam, said Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar at a press briefing here on Tuesday.

The Chellanam area has registered at least 70 cases over the past few days.

The district recorded a total of 70 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, of whom 11 people had arrived from outside the State and 59 had acquired the infection through local contact. Of the figures, 33 people had tested positive on Monday, but the figures had not been included in the day’s tally due to a technical glitch after one of the data entry staff members tested positive, said Mr. Sunil Kumar.

Eight family members of a Karumalloor native who was a vegetable vendor in Kakkanad have tested positive. Five relatives of an Alangad native who had tested positive last week have been infected. Thirteen people from Aluva market area have also tested positive.

A 48-year-old health worker at the Keezhmad primary health centre, a 69-year-old and a 55-year-old, both residents of Keezhmad, and a 26-year-old lorry driver from Keezhmad, who were on the contact list of a patient from the area, have tested positive. The three-year-old son of a COVID-19 patient at Keezhmad, has also turned positive.

A 27-year-old employee of a private establishment at Edappally, two natives of Pallarimangalam, two residents of Kavalangad and a 77-year-old from Pachalam have been infected. The 13-year-old son of a Mulavukad-based patient has also tested positive.

With regard to a pre-wedding ceremony that was held at Keezhmad, resulting in positive cases from the area and from nearby panchayats, Mr. Sunil Kumar said that the ceremony was held with over 100 people in violation of all COVID-19-related protocol.

Twelve people had tested positive earlier in connection with the ceremony, he said, adding that strict action would be taken against those organising such events. The Aluva police said that a case, under the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, had been registered against the person who had organised the ceremony.

The outpatient facility at PVS Hospital would begin functioning soon after triage facilities were set up there, said the Minister.

Containment zones

The new containment zones declared were Ward 16 of Vadakkekara panchayat, Wards 7, 10 and 11 of Karumalloor panchayat, Ward 8 of Kavalangad panchayat and Divisions 22 and 69 of the Kochi Corporation. Press Club Road and Market Road of Division 38 and Netaji Road and Surabhi Road of Division 40 of Kochi Corporation were declared micro-containment zones.

Ward 5 of Paingottoor panchayat and Division 58 of the Kochi Corporation have been released from containment zone status.

‘Govt. hiding facts’

Meanwhile, the Paschima Kochi Theera Samrakshana Samithy has alleged that the State government is hiding the actual extent of COVID-19 spread in Chellanam. The government must come out with the actual number of people infected and accept that community spread is a fact.

Under these circumstances it is essential that the government provide proper medical care for the infected.

Chellanam could turn into a major tragedy if care was not taken, the statement issued by T.A. Dalphine of the Samithi said.

Since the majority of the people in Wards 15, 16 and 17 were in home quarantine, they were unable to get supplies of essentials and medicines on time, the statement said, while demanding that the people’s needs should be taken care of.