An area of the Ernakulam market falling within Broadway in the west, TD Road in the east, St Francis Cathedral in the north and Convent Junction-Public Library Junction in the south will remain closed after three employees at an electrical shop in the area tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the district administration to classify it as a containment zone.
While an employee of the shop, a Thrissur native, had tested positive on June 27, two colleagues of his, a 31-year-old Kasaragod native and a 42-year-old Palakkad native, are under treatment after turning positive for the infection.
Their primary contacts have been isolated and the shops in the vicinity closed. Swab samples of 26 persons who were in contact have been sent for testing. A meeting presided by the District Collector decided to collect samples of everyone in the market with symptoms besides conducting random testing across shops in the area. Instructions to this effect have already been issued to health officials.
Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar said shops outside the containment zone should strictly observe physical distancing, failing which they would have to be closed too.
10 cases
A total of 10 COVID-19 positive cases were reported from the district on Tuesday and they included, apart from the two cases at the Ernakulam market, a 27-year-old Kunnukara resident who returned from Kuwait on June 13, a 41-year-old Eloor resident who returned from Dubai on June 18, a 32-year-old Ayavana resident who came from Kuwait on June 18, a 60-year-old Vadavukode-Puthencruz resident who came from Muscat on June 19, a 23-year-old Kothamangalam resident who came from Tamil Nadu by road on June 13, a 38-year-old Andhra Pradesh native, a shipping company employee, who arrived from Chennai on June 28, a 24-year-old Malayattoor-Neeleswaram resident who returned from Kuwait on June 13, a 31-year-old Alangad resident who came from Kuwait on June 14, a 35-year-old shipping company employee from Maharashtra who arrived on June 27 and a 45-year-old Chendamangalam resident who came from Sharjah on June 14.
Also under treatment in the district is a 47-year-old Alappuzha resident who arrived from Dubai on June 29.
While seven people recovered on Tuesday, 780 people were added to the list of people under disease surveillance.
Cop quarantined
Nearly 25 persons spread over four police station limits have been sent into quarantine after they were found to have come into contact with a youngster who had allegedly violated home quarantine protocol and had since tested positive for COVID-19.
Among those quarantined include a Sub Inspector of Fort Kochi police station who overpowered the youngster who was found in an inebriated state on the night of June 22.
“We tracked down his primary contacts from Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Thoppumpady and South stations and sent them into quarantine,” said a senior police officer. Swab samples of those quarantined are likely to be sent for tests on Wednesday.
The youngster from Thane in Maharashtra had in violation of home quarantine protocol moved about across three police station limits, it was alleged.
He had withdrawn money from a bank in Fort Kochi, bought alcohol from a liquor outlet in Thoppumpady, had a haircut and bathed in a public toilet in Mattancherry.
