Thiruvananthapuram recorded its highest ever tally of 54 new cases and over 87 per cent of the cases, 47 of them, had no travel history. Nowhere else in Kerala has contact cases been considerably more than imported COVID-19 cases.
Kumarichantha Fish Market at Ambalathara can now be considered the epicentre of the infection in the district with at least 25 of the cases declared on Tuesday linked to the market along the coastal side of the district. By now nearly 60 positive cases in the district in the last seven days are linked to the market.
Puthenpally's superspreader
Manikkavilakom, Puthenpally, Ambalathara and Poonthura areas along the coast seem to be the worst affected areas in the capital. The Puthenpally fish merchant who regularly travels to Kanyakumari to bring truckloads of fish back to Kumarichantha, and who was also the first recorded case in the area, is turning out to be a superspreader.
At least seven cases declared today, including three children, are said to be in his primary contact list. A 39-year-old woman in the man's secondary contact list has also been declared positive on Tuesday. He has by now directly infected 17 people.
Though the fresh cases on Tuesday are concentrated more along the coastal areas, other parts of the district were also not spared. Nearly 70 per cent of the declared cases in the coastal areas on Tuesday have high social exposure, meaning they regularly travel to other parts of the capital.
Among the positive cases are five health workers, nine fish vendors, three auto drivers. There were also six children under the age of seven, and 12 elderly above the age of 60.
Almost all the fish vendors have picked fish from Kumarichantha and had travelled to places closer to the city like Poojappura, Karakkamandapam and Anayara to sell fish.
High infectivity
The R naught or rate of infectivity (the number of persons to whom a patient transmits the virus) in the district also appears high. If the Puthenpally fish merchant has infected 17, a former VSSC employee has now infected seven others in Muttathara, another area near the coast. Six of them were declared positive on Tuesday.
This includes an 82-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman, both of them neighbours of the former VSSC employee who had tested positive four days ago. The 70-year-old woman's grandson, 35-years-old, has also tested positive today. He is said to have been active in the area till his results were announced on Tuesday.
A 25-year-old woman in Parassala who had already infected her 10-year-old son has on Tuesday infected her father-in-law also.
New cluster in Anayara
Anayara panchayat, outside the Corporation limit, has seen a sudden eruption of COVID-19 cases. Six cases were reported in the panchayat that had not had a single case till now. This included four cases connected to the Community Health Centre: a 27-year-old medical officer, two 54-year-old ASHA workers and a junior health nurse (31).
A 38-year-old man who runs a bakery in Aryanad town and the station master at Aryanad Bus depot, both of them with no links to the CHC but with high socal exposure, were also found positive.
Other individuals with high social exposure - a 6--year-old security guard at Technopark, a 37-yer-old Horticorp employee at Muttathara, a 54-year-old airport cargo staff at Chakka, a 55-year-old lottery seller at Paruthikkuzhy and a 39-year-old woman who works in Parassala Taluk hospital - were also found infected.