It is not just the virus and hunger that is bothering the coastal regions of Thiruvananthapuram.
It is true that the virus is on a transmission spree along the coast and is showing no signs of slowing down; of the 222 fresh COVID-19 cases reported in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, over 160 are from the coast. And with the sea forbidden for them now, even their meagre source of income has dried up.
This has been the situation for the last 10 days. But now other factors have conspired to make things even harder for the coastal folk. Already many in the region, even symptomatic people, are trying to avoid tests fearing they would be dumped in crowded hospital rooms with other patients and with nothing good to eat.
Now, the experience of a coastal councillor appears to confirm their fears. Shini W, councillor of Kottapuram ward, has been calling up authorities, including Mayor K Sreekumar, to intervene on behalf of her sister. Two of her sisters were found COVID positive, and because one had a severe headache, both were shifted to the First Line Treatment Centre at Greenfield Stadum, Kariyavattom.
Kottapuram ward has the most number of COVID patients in the Vizhinjam belt that comprises of Vizhinjam, Mulloor, Harbour, Vengnoor and Kottapuram coastal wards. This a belt where the spread is relatively low; 50 tests were done and 10 turned positive, of this six were n Kottapuram ward.
“She has been there since yesterday and no one has bothered to give her even a paracetamol tablet till now,” Shini told Onmanorma. “My sister is in such intense pain that she is finding it hard to take food. She will die if no one attends to her,” Shini said.
The CPI councillor said she had called up health authorities and also the Mayor and they have all promised help that's yet to come. “If this is what a councillor suffers imagine the trauma they will put ordinary coastal folks through,” she said.
Few kilometres to the south, Karumkulam grama panchayat president G Anilkumar is livid that the mainstream media and the social media were putting the people in his panchayat under severe stress.
“There were reports in the media that over 17,000 people in our panchayat, half the population, have been declared positive. Truth is, a total of 809 tests have been done and 392 have been declared positive till now. Even this high number has come about because we have tested only high risk individuals in our panchayat,” Anilkumar said.
Pulluvila and Puthiyathura, two affected coastal wards, come under Karumkulam panchayat. In fact, on Thursday there was some relief for the panchayat that usually showed 50 percent or above positivity rate; 36 tests were conducted and only eight turned positive.
Further south in Pozhiyoor under Kulathoor panchayat, the situation looks serious. This is not just because of the high number of cases. On Thursday, 47 tests were conducted and 11 tested positive. “The number is increasing but the people are no willing to stop their careless ways. It is hard for them to lock themselves in their homes, and it is unthinkable for them to have lunch without fish,” said Pozhiyoor Johnson, Pozhiyoor ward member.
This yearning for fish, the ward member said, could be suicidal. He said loads of fish kept coming to Pozhiyoor from neighbouring Tamil Nadu through secret pathways. “Yesterday a truckload of fish was buried near the Police Station premises,” Johnson said.
The Poonthura belt, for a change, looked calmer. Fifty tests were conducted in Poonthura, Manikyavilakom and Puthenpally wards and 15 were found positive. Of this only four were from Poonthura.
The residents in the Poonthura belt had another reason to cheer about. Nearly 150 patients from these wards recovered in the last two days.
Up north in Anchuthengu, more cases have been reported. 50 tests were held and 17 were positive. “We would have packed more positive cases if people here were less reluctant to take tests,” said Yesudasan Stephen, the Anchuthengu ward member. “They say they cannot stay in crowded isolation centres with other patients. They cannot be faulted as those who had gone to these isolation centres have painted a scary picture of these places,” Yesudasan said.
