The daily COVID-19 case graph nosedived to 253 in the capital district with testing falling drastically on Monday.
While testing picked up following the Onam holidays and reached 631 on Sunday, only 197 swab samples were collected and sent for examination on Monday. On the brighter side, as many as 614 people recovered from the disease and were discharged on the day.
The death toll continued to mount with seven more people–natives of Parassala (65-year old), Kattakada (48), Karumkulam (63), and two each from Peringamala (aged 54 and 41) and Manacaud (both aged 68)–succumbing to the illness during the last few days. The pandemic has claimed 117 lives in the district so far.
Among the freshly reported cases, all except three imported cases have been attributed to local transmission. These included 11 health care workers. The sources of infection in seven cases reported from Kakkavila, Poonthura, Anayara, Kalliyoor, Kallattumukku and Perunkavu were unknown.
Sixteen employees of a jewellery store in Attingal tested positive for the infection. They were tested a day after a worker there was diagnosed with the disease. The outlet was closed on the basis of orders issued by the Attingal municipality. The Kattakada grama panchayat office was also shut for three days after the secretary and other employee tested positive.
Sixteen people were also diagnosed with COVID-19 in Kallikad grama panchayat from among 41 people who were subjected to testing. Anjuthengu also reported five fresh cases after 15 people were tested.
Karimadom colony in Manacaud ward and Kuriyathi residents association in Kuriyathi ward, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation; Kallyam and Plavuvila in Karakulam grama panchayat; Punnakulam and Office ward in Kottukal grama panchayat; Pazhayakada in Thirupuram grama panchayat; and Kidangummal ward in Vellanad grama panchayat were included as containment zones.
Containment zones were withdrawn in Palaikonam, Irinjal and Pallivetta in Arayanad grama panchayat; Kadukkamoodu in Vellanad grama panchayat; and Telugu Chetti street in Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.