Cases in Thiruvananthapuram clusters decline, as does testing

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The capital district’s coastal clusters, which have been an Achilles heel in the state’s Covid-19 response, seemed to be on the mend – with daily cases dropping sharply over the past week.
However, authorities hardly find it encouraging because medical teams have been reporting reluctance on the part of residents to turn up for testing. Puthukurichi, which has been a major cluster, has not reported a significant number of cases for two weeks. And officials say that on many days even half the kits could remain unused because of the drop in testing. Even those who volunteer are neither symptomatic nor belong to a vulnerable group, but are there for the Covid-negative certificates for employment purposes.
Over the period from July 1 to August 22, 4,895 positive cases were reported in 11 coastal panchayats. Nearly 28,769 samples were tested and average positivity rate was 17%. Four clusters reported a positivity rate above 20%: Poonthura (20.4%), Pulluvila (29.1%), Anchuthengu (23.6%) and Poovar (21.2%).
District collector Navjot Khosa said the trend has been on the decline but it would be another week or more before they can think of delisting containment zones. The plan is to lower positivity rate to 5%. At present, except for Thiruvallom, all coastal clusters have positivity rates above 10%.
Kadinamkulam panchayat president Felix P said home-based mobilization is being carried out to encourage people to get tested. “There is so much false news out there which drives people away from testing centres. We need to cover a very good percentage of our community before the area can be declared Covid-free,” he said.
There were signs of transmission in all major clusters even in the first week of August. Anchuthengu, which reported 141 cases in July, saw over 300 cases in the first six days of August. Beemapally, which reported just around 100 cases throughout July, saw 41 cases early this month. Even Poonthura, which registered over 700 cases in July, continued to report sporadic cases.
Medical officials believe a section of people may have acquired herd immunity but chances of infection and reinfection among vulnerable groups still remain a major challenge.