Thiruvananthapuram: Poonthura fishing village where community transmission is feared has recorded is first COVID-19 victim. 70-year-old Arulappan, who had died on July 10, has tested positive for COVID-19.
He is Kerala's 36th COVID-19 victim. His source of infection is not known.
Arulappan's is the second death reported along Thiruvananthapuram coast. The first was 67-year-old Saifudeen's, a native of Manikyavilakom near Poonthura on July 10, the day Arulappan's death was recorded.
While Saifudeen was already under treatment in the Medical College for COVID-19, Arulappan was not even tested. Close family members said he suffered from serious cardiac and kidney ailments. Five years ago he had a heart attack and he was undergoing treatment for his kidney.
On July 10, Arulappan developed severe breathing problems and he died on the way to the Medical College. His samples tested positive for Sars-CoV-2 on July 13.
Arulappan lives with his sons and daughters and their families in a cramped little house. Since kidney troubles had kept him mostly inside the house in the last few months, health authorities are not clear how he had contracted the virus.
He had a small business earlier and had no connections with fish trade in the area. "These days we don't even remember him talking to even fish sellers. But at times he had gone out and met people," a close family member said. None of his famly members has till now shown any symptoms either.
COVID-19 deaths in Kerala
Arulappan (70, Thiruvananthapuram), Thyagarajan (74, Kollam), Ayesha Hajjumma (64, Kannur), Valsala (63, Thrissur), Babu (52, Alappuzha), Balakrishnan Nair (79, Pulluvazhy in Ernakulam), Saifudeen (67, Thiruvananthapuram), Abdul Rahman (52, Kasaragod), Yusuf (66, Thoppumpadiin Ernakulam), Mohammad (82, Wandoor in Malappuram), Krishnan (68, Nadakkavu in Kozhikode), Thankappan, (76, Nettayam in Thiruvananthapuram), Arasagaran (55, Tamil Nadu native died at Manjeri Medical College), Vasanthakumar (68, Mayyanad in Kollam), Sunil Padiyur(28, Blathur in Kannur), S Rameshan (67, Vanchiyoor, Thiruvananthapuram), Hussain (77, Irikkur, Kannur), P K Mohammed (70, Iritty, Kannur), DinnyChacko (43, Chalakkudy, Thrissur), Kumaran (87, Engandiyoor, Thrissur), E Hamza Koya (61, Malappuram; former Santosh Trophy footballer), Shabnas(Edappal in Malappuram) Xavier (Kavanad, Kollam), Meenakshi Ammal (73, Palakkad), Father K G Varghese (77, Nalanchira, Thiruvananthapuram), Sulaikha (56, Kozhikode), Jose Joy (38, Pandanad, Chengannur), Joshy (68, Thiruvalla), Telangana native (68, died in Thiruvananthapuram), Asiya (62, Kozhikode), Amina (52, Wayanad), Khadeejakkutty (73, Thrissur), Yakub Husain Sait (69, Ernakulam), Abdul Azeez (68, Thiruvananthapuram), Mehroof (67, Mahe, UT of Puducherry; died at Government Medical College in Pariyaram, Kannur) and four-month-old baby (Malappuram).
Note: Though Mehraoof hailed from the Union Territory of Puducherry, his death has been included in Kerala's list based on a union government guideline, which stated that deaths should be accounted where it occurs irrespective of which state the person hailed from.
