Hours after Devaswom Minister Kadakamplly Surendran said the capital district was seated on a veritable volcano, Thiruvananthapuram has seen a record 27 new cases on Sunday, the highest ever for the district.
But here is the figure that has triggered fears of a community transmission: 22, or over 80 per cent, of the new cases have contracted the virus through contact. Never before has the ratio of imported-contact cases looked so heavy on the contact side in any other part of Kerala.
Besides fish vendors and their close family members and associates, a wide variety of people with high social exposure – healthcare workers, a Milma booth owner, and children – were also declared positive on the day.
In four days, the district has recorded 32 contact cases. Predictably, the government has imposed triple lockdown in the capital.
Most of the cases can be traced to Kumarichanta Fish Market near Poonthura. And the fish wholesaler in Puthenpally who was tested positive on June 30 is turning out to be a superspreader. Nine of the cases today have direct links to the wholesaler.
Six are from his own family - three boys 18, 15 and 13 years of age, and a girl 14 years, a 39-year-old lady and a 44-year-old man.
A 29-year-old youth who worked with the wholesaler has also tested positive. The youth is said to have also been the wholesaler's bystander when he was admitted to a private hospital in Kamaleshwaram.
The samples of seven more youth who had worked with the man had been taken, and the results are awaited.
Two kids, two and 12 years old, in a family in Uchakkada, outside the Corporation limits, were also declared positive. It is said the wholesaler had visited the house of the kids to seek spiritual guidance from their father, a Muslim spiritual scholar. This house is situated in a small compound of three houses. The samples of the other 14 members in the three houses have been taken.
It is usual for the wholesaler to travel daily to Kanyakumari and bring back truckloads of fish to Kumarichantha Fish Market where he auctions the fish to retailers.
There are cases with links to Kumarichantha Fish Market, but with no perceptible connection to the wholesaler. A father and son who purchases fish from Kumrichantha have been declared positive. It is still not clear whether they have had any connection with the index patent, the wholesaler. They also happen to be the first fish retailers in the district to be declared COVID-19 positive.
Another youth who worked as cashier with a wholesaler, not the index patient, has also been found positive. The wife of yet another fish wholesaler, declared positive two days ago, has also tesed positive in Muttathara. A headload worker in Muttathara who worked in Kumarichantha has also been declared positive.
Others not linked to the Kumarichantha market and fish sales have also been declared positive on the day. An 8-year-old boy in Kalady, near Manacaud, was declared positive. It is said that his mother works at the Homoeo Medical College, a COVID Care Centre, in Iranimuttom. But it s also said that she had not been to he hospital for over a month.
Two staff nurses in a popular private hospital in Attukal have been declared positive. At Sreekanteshwaram, a man who runs a Milma booth in the crowded Fort area has been found positive. Their source of infection is a mystery.
The triple lockdown will be in place in Thiruvananthapuram for a week from July 6.
• Only hospitals, medical shops and provision stores would be allowed to open in Corporation areas. One shop in one area will be allowed to open.
• All roads to the city will be closed.
• All government offices, including Secretariat, will remain closed.
• Only essential services will be allowed.
• Essential goods will be delivered home, but public will not be allowed to visit the shops. Essential goods will be delivered home if the requirements are given to a phone number that will be published by the police soon.
• KSRTC depots will remain shut.
• No transport will be allowed.
• Affidavit will be required to go to hospitals and medical shops.
Helpline numbers:
Police Control room – 112
Thiruvananyhapuram City Police control room – 0471-2335410, 2336410, 2337410
State Police Chief control room – 0471 – 2722500, 94979 00999
State COVID Control Room at police headquarters – 94979 00121, 94979 00112