With six persons from Kollam testing positive on Wednesday, the Health Department has sounded a high alert in the district and intensified vigil in all hotspots.

While four persons have a connection to Chathannur, where a health worker had earlier tested positive, the fifth case is a 73-year-old from Kulathupuzha. The other patient is a 28-year-old fish vendor from Andhra Pradesh whose sample was collected as part of augmented surveillance. He arrived in Kollam on April 22 on a fish lorry and was under institutional quarantine at Oachira.

The cases from Chathannur include a nine-year-old boy from Standard Junction, a, 64-year-old from MC Puram, a 41-year-old health worker from Kalluvathukkal who has been working in the Community Health Centre, and a 52-year-old attached to the Family Health Centre (FHC), Chathannur. “In Chathannur, two afflicted persons are health workers and a triple lockdown will be imposed there. Though the situation is serious, there has been no community spread,” said Minister J. Mercykutty Amma, here. While Chathannur, Kalluvathukal, and Oachira will be under strict surveillance, the Kulathupuzha CHC was closed as a precautionary measure.

Parippally OP closed

Meanwhile, Government Medical College, Parippally, closed the OP department and pharmacy since the son of a staff member was among those who tested positive on Wednesday. “We have no idea how the child contracted the infection and though the parent has been tested negative we have closed some sections as a precautionary measure. In the coming days we will be functioning more like a COVID-19 hospital,” said the hospital authorities.

The sample of the health worker who first tested positive in Chathannur was one of the 15 random ones collected by the sentinel surveillance team. “The person was asymptomatic and the contact tracing turned out to be a huge task given the nature of her job. She had visited many houses as part of field work, helped bed-ridden patients, collected the details of people in home quarantine, and did OP duty at the FHC on a couple of days. Two more persons who were involved in the daily activities of the health centres and other COVID-19 prevention measures have now turned positive and the current situation requires the public to stay extremely alert,” said an official.