Eighty-eight healthcare workers attached to the Government Medical College Hospital have so far been asked to go into quarantine after 14 of their colleagues tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in recent days.
According to sources at the hospital, those tested positive for the virus include an assistant professor, three junior residents, two house surgeons, four staff nurses, one nursing assistant, one pharmacist and other staff. Wards, 3, 4, 36, cardiology and nephrology have been closed now.
Unconfirmed reports said that the staff at the District Medical Office had been asked to go into quarantine after one of their colleagues tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during an antigen test held for the staff at the Civil Station.
A large chunk of fresh COVID-19 cases reported from the district continues to be through local transmission of the infection as 67 people declared tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. Two deaths were reported from the Government Medical College Hospital.
According to a medical bulletin from the hospital, one of them is a 49-year-old man from Thaliyattuparamba in Kozhikode city.
The second patient is a 72-year-old man from Kondotti in Malappuram district.
A release by the District Medical Officer said that 59 of the new COVID-19 cases are through local transmission and the source of infection of three others is not known. Thirteen persons belong to the Kozhikode corporation, nine of them are staff in two private hospitals. The other infected persons are from Nadapuram, Velam, Chorod, Payyoli, Koyilandy, Mukkom, Onchiyam, Feroke, Kuttiadi, Villiappally, Thiruvalloor, Puthuppady, Kunnamangalam, Olavanna, Vanimel, Ramanattukara, Chelannur and Vadakara.
In Kasaragod
The spread of COVID-19 continues to increase through contact in Kasaragod. Of the 49 cases reported on Wednesday, 30 contracted the disease through local transmission. Fifteen persons returned from abroad. The source of infection of four persons could not be identified.
There are now 3,800 persons under observation in the district.
In Wayanad
All the 43 new COVID-19 patients in Wayanad district contracted the disease through local transmission. According to District Medical Officer R. Renuka, 39 of the new 43 cases were reported from Valad area in Thavinhal grama panchayat. Two cases were reported from Varambetta and one case each from Periya and Payyampally areas.
District Collector Adeela Abdulla has declared complete lockdown in four places in the district — Mananthavady Municipality, Thodarnadu, Edavaka and Thavinhal grama panchayat — from 12 a.m. on Thursday to 6 a.m. on August 5 to contain the spread of the pandemic .
Special control rooms will be set up in these areas to supply essential provisions and medicines to people.
The Collector also banned all vehicle movements, except public carriers and medical emergency vehicles, through the Periya, Palchuram and Pakramthalam (Kuttyadi) ghat roads.
In Thrissur
In a relief for Thrissur district, there was a dip in the number of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. Only 31 cases were reported from the district. Of them, 25 were infected through local contact.
So far, 1,312 cases have been reported from the district. Of them, 866 persons recovered from the disease.
In Malappuram
Two more persons died of COVID-19 in Malappuram on Wednesday.
The deaths of a 67-year-old man from Pallikkal near Tenhipalam and a 72-year-old man from Kondotty raised the district’s COVID-19 toll to 11.
While the Pallikkal man died at Government Medical College Hospital, Manjeri, the man from Kondotty died at Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode. Both suffered heart attacks.
Eighty-seven persons tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.
Among the new cases, 51 got the infection through local spread. The source of infection could not be identified for 15 of them.
In Kannur
The situation at Kannur Medical College Hospital continues to be grim as more COVID-19 cases emerged here on Wednesday.
Among the 42 new patients, 10 were health workers and 17 were those who assisted patients at the medical college.
Those in the medical college cluster include three doctors, who are natives of Kottayam, Kozhikode and Alathur in Palakkad.
In Palakkad
Forty-nine persons tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Palakkad district on Wednesday. Of them, 18 were infected through local contacts, including 11 from Pattambi.
In the rapid antigen tests conducted on 163 persons in and around Pattambi on Tuesday, 11 were found positive.
Nine of them were from Pattambi and one each from Muthuthala and Kayiliyad.
Four from Kalladikkode and one each from Shoranur, Ongalloor, and Mepparamb also contracted the disease through contact.
(With inputs from Kasaragod, Thrissur, Wayanad, Kannur, Malappuram, and Palakkad bureaus)