Another COVID-19 death was recorded in the district on Sunday and a total of 97 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

A 67-year-old patient who was being treated at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, from July 8 onwards, died on Sunday. He had high blood pressure and was diabetic. He had been placed on ventilator and was also administered plasma therapy as part of his treatment.

He was a resident of Veliyathunad, near Aluva, and was suspected to have contracted the disease either from the Aluva or Maradu markets, which he had visited, a health official on the surveillance team said. The deceased was a vegetable vendor and about eight of his family members were also suspected to have developed the infection, said the official.

Of the 97 positive cases, 88 people contracted the infection through local transmission while nine people had arrived from outside the State.

As many as 19 people have tested positive from Chellanam, 37 from the Aluva cluster, and 15 from the Keezhmad cluster.

Four health workers have tested positive for the disease – a 33-year-old from Keezhmad working at a private hospital in Aluva; a 40-year-old health worker at the primary health centre in Keezhmad; a 53-year-old from Thrikkakara working at a private hospital in Angamaly; and a 31-year-old working at a private hospital in the district.

A 64-year-old from Parakkadavu, two relatives of a patient from Pachalam, a nine-year-old from Chowara who tested positive while being treated at a private hospital, a 41-year-old driver transporting vegetables to the Maradu market, an employee of a food processing unit in Alappuzha, a 62-year-old native of Idukki being treated at a private hospital, a 34-year-old bank employee in Cherthala, a 36-year-old on the contact list of a sanitation worker from the Medical College Hospital at Kalamassery and a 56-year-old from Mattancherry have tested positive. A 34-year-old from Edappally and her two-year-old daughter, who were on the contact list of a patient from the area, have also tested positive.

Eight people have tested negative for the disease.

Divisions 23, 24 and 25 of the Maradu municipality were declared containment zones late on Saturday. Divya Anilkumar, a councillor, said the containment zone was declared after employees at VPS Lakeshore Hospital at Maradu tested positive. A couple of doctors and some staff members at the hospital tested positive, following which all outpatient departments have been closed till Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the hospital management refuted rumours being circulated in social media regarding the total shutdown of the hospital’s services and multiple staff being infected with SARS-CoV-2.