Thiruvananthapuram: The source of infection of at least seven of the 10 new cases reported on Wednesday is unknown. The source of infection in over 10 cases, including healthcare workers, declared earlier also remains a mystery.
Still, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi insisted that there was no community transmission in Kerala. His confidence, which was on show during the sunset briefing on Wednesday, is apparently founded on the results of the 3101 random samples that were taken on April 26 to check whether there was unseen local spread in Kerala.
The Chief Minister said that 2682 samples have tested negative, and that only three had become positive. "As it is, there is no community transmission," he concluded, but added: "However, we need to be extremely vigilant not to invite such a plight on us."
Fact is, results of 2710 samples had come and 28 of them were found positive. The government decided to sent back 25 of the positive samples for reconfirmation, an extraordinary move as such a thing was never done before.
The reconfirmation of the 25 cases has still not come. And the results of 391 remaining samples, too, are awaited.
Kollam: Groping in the dark
On Wednesday, six of the 10 cases were reported in Kollam district. One of them is said to have come from Andhra Pradesh, and is therefore considered to have imported the virus from outside. The other five have contracted the virus through, what has been loosely termed by the chief minister as, "contact".
But who the contacts of the five new cases are have still not been resolved. Take the case of the 69-year-old tailor who had tested positive in Kulathupuzha on Wednesday. The district administration has not been able to establish any link between the 69-year-old man and the three persons who had tested positive in the panchayat - Manikantan, who first got the infection, and his two primary contacts, a 77-year-old female and an acquaintance of Manikantan.
Further, the tailor, considered a socially inactive person, lives a few kilometres away from Manikantan's place. It now looks like the administration is desperately trying to connect the tailor with Manikantan. "Now, it is said that Manikantan had come to places this man (the tailor) occasionally visits, like a tea shop nearby," said Lailabeevi P, member of the Town ward where the new positive case lives.
Four, including three ASHA workers and a 9-year-old child, have tested positive at Chathannoor, on the far eastern side of Kollam. The healthcare workers take care of different regions under a Family Health Centre in Chathannoor.
It is said they could have contracted the virus from an ASHA worker who had tested positive two days ago. Chathannoor's CPI MLA G S Jayalal and Kollam MP N K Premachandran said this link had not been scientifically established. "At the moment, we are not sure," Jayalal said.
Health worker troubles
Since the three don't work together, or under a same building, it is also highly likely for them to get the virus from three unknown but separate sources. There is more to grapple with. One of them lives outside Chathannoor, switching on the possibility of virus spread in yet another area outside Chathannoor.
Premachandran said positive cases among healthcare workers had complicated the fight against COVID-19. "These committed workers, because of the nature of their activities, constantly come into close contact with local body representatives and other district officials," the MP said.
He also flagged the issue of inadequate testing. "The first ASHA worker is said to have visited nine homes that had at least one foreign returnee. Her result should have prompted officials to speed up the testing of all foreign returnees in home quarantine," Premachandran said.
The fourth positive case in Chathannoor is a 9-year-old boy. His mother is a pharmacist in Parippally Medical College, putting even the topmost COVID Care Centre in Kollam under the shadow. The mother, however, has tested negative.
Contact variety
There are two new cases in Thiruvananthapuram, and the district administration has officially stated that the source of infection in the case of one was "vague". The other person is said to have imported the virus from Tamil Nadu.
Kasaragod also has two, and both have got it through "contact". One is a visual media journalist whose contact could be anyone, right from patients to officials and political leaders.
Emerging hotspots
The recoveries on the day matched fresh cases on Wednesday. Of the 10 cured, three each are in Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod, and one in Pathanamthitta. Confirmed cases have gone up to 495, and the active cases have remained stagnant for three consecutive days at 123. As it stands, 369 or 74.55 per cent of the confirmed cases have recovered.
Kannur has the highest number of cases, 48, and also the largest number of hotspots, 28. Kasaragod, which once threatened to go out of control, has lesser active cases (13) than emerging hotspots Kottayam (17), Kollam (15) and Idukki (14).
