A slight dip in cases along the coast on July 20 looks like an aberration as coastal clusters witness yet another day of virus surge.
As the coast festers, far within the capital city, crisis deepens in the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Four more post graduate students were declared positive on Tuesday, sending their primary contacts, mostly PG students, into quarantine.
On Tuesday, 151 cases were reported from Thiruvananthapuram district and nearly 120 were from the coast. Major clusters like Karumkulam (including Pulluvila and Puthiyathura wards), Poonthura and Kadinamkulam (including Marianad and Puthukurichy wards) showed no let up in fresh cases. On Tuesday, a new cluster, Kottukal fishing village, has been added to the list.
New virus cluster in the coast
Nearly 85 per cent of residents tested in Kottukal, which borders Karumkulam panchayat, were declared positive on Tuesday; 36 tests were done and 30 of them showed positive.
In nearby in Karumkulam also, cases continued to soar. Of the 48 samples taken, 22 were found positive. There was also a death, of 70-year-old Victoria. She had died on July 15 but her swab results were declared positive only on Tuesday.
"We continue to get a high number because we keep testing only high risk cases, especially pregnant women, the elderly and those with diabetes, cardiac issues and renal complaints," said Karumkulam panchayat president G Anilkumar.
Far north along the coast in Kadinamkulam, 15 more turned positive when 50 tests were done. Kadinamkulam panchayat president Felix P insisted that Onmanorama give a ward-wise break up of the cases. Of the 15, eight are in Puthukurichy, six in Marianad and one in Vettuthura.
Fate of Poonthura and Marianad
"There is a general complaint that all cases in Kadinamkulam are listed under Marianad just like it happened in Poonthura and the Marianad residents are deeply hurt. They say they too will suffer the fate of Poonthura residents who were turned away even from hospitals," Felix said.
There are now 114 positive cases in Kadinamkulam and he highest number is in Puthukurichy ward.
Poonthura residents too share the same resentment. "All cases in our belt are said to be from Poonthura when many are from neighbouring wards," said Peter Solomon, the Poonthura ward member.
He said no tests were held in Poonthura on Tuesday and still the official list showed over 25 from Poonthura had tested positive. "At the most, five people who had gone directly to the primary health centre would have tested positive. Otherwise, there are no cases today, at least not what I am aware of," Solomon said.
He seems to have a point because the Beemapally area (Beemapally and Beemapally East wards), after three days of no testing, has recorded 20 positive cases when 100 samples were taken. The official list but has less than 10 Beemapally cases, the rest probably getting listed under Poonthura area.
Though the number of cases in the heart of the city was low, one case was reported in Karimadom Colony, which has all the characteristics of an urban slum. It is a thickly populated area of low income families where people-to-people contact is high. "These families frequent Ramachandran supermarket (118 of its employees had tested positive till now) that is nearby. If tests are increased, we fear we would unravel a lot many cases," a health official said.
Mutiny in Medical College
However, the success of the fight against COVID would largely depend on the health of the Medical College.
By now, over 100 post-graduate students have been asked to go into quarantine, causing massive staff shortage in the Medical College. The PG students take most of the treatment load in a Medical College.
They are now up in arms against the recommendation of Kerala Government Medical Officers' Association (KGMOA) that Medical College PGs should be used in COVID First Line Treatment Centres and other peripheral hospitals.
"We are strongly opposed to the move. It will seriously compromise the functioning of the Medical College. Already 100-odd PGs are in quarantine and many among those working in he hospital are secondary contacts. If those in quarantine now test positive, these PGs now designated secondary contacts will become primary contacts and will be forced to go into quarantine," said Dr Nidhin George Kodiyan, the president of Kerala Medical PG Association.
Further, he said the admission process of the first year PG students was yet to be over, and even then some of them had to go into quarantine. And the final year students are having their practical examinations and hey have been asked to keep away. The PG unit, in short, is already worn thin even without quarantine.
Dr Kodiyan suspects that moves are already on to sent PGs to peripheral centres. "We were asked once and we had objected. Now an official order has been issued seeking the details of PG students," Dr Kodiyan said.
