Thiruvananthapuram recorded its tenth COVID-19 death after a 73-year-old man died owing to the disease on Thursday. He hailed from Nanchamkuzhy, Parassala.
Amidst other emerging reports of the death toll going up in the district, official sources confirmed the diagnosis of the disease in a 70-year-old Poonthura native who died at his house on Wednesday. He was bedridden for nearly two years and suffered from various age-related ailments.
The capital district’s COVID-19 caseload remained on the higher side as 222 people, including seven health workers, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. As many as 206 people were infected through contact transmission. The sources of infection were unknown in 16 cases.
With sixty people testing negative, the total number of people being treated at various hospitals and COVID-19 first-line treatment centres in the district stood at 2,583.
Three councillors
Triggering concern among people’s representatives, three more councillors of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation were diagnosed with the illness on the day, taking the number of infected councillors to seven. Two of the three councillors, representing the Vanchiyoor, Thampanoor, and Chellamangalam wards, are chairpersons of standing committees. At least half of the 100 councillors in the local bodies are believed to have undergone tests. Many employees have gone into quarantine.
A civil police officer attached to the Vattiyurkavu police station and a driver at the State Police Intelligence headquarters are the latest in a series of police officers to have contracted the disease in the State capital. The development pushed the Vattiyurkavu police station into further turmoil after three of its officials had earlier been diagnosed with COVID-19. Nearly 20 police officers, including those attached to the Armed Reserve camp, Cantonment, and Fort police, have been infected in the city.
A Pulluvila native who appeared for the recent KEAM examination also tested positive. The candidate took the examination from Government High School at Vanchiyoor. The number of KEAM candidates diagnosed with the disease has gone up to four in the district. A parent of another candidate also tested positive for the virus.