A total of 59 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the district on Saturday. Of them, 38 acquired the infection through local contact, while 21 persons came from outside the State.
An 80-year-old and an 85-year-old, both residents of a home at Thrikkakara for the elderly and destitute, have tested positive. Four Navy personnel and a doctor at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital have also tested positive here.
Ten persons from Fort Kochi and two from Palluruthy have tested positive. The other positive cases were registered from Kunnathunad, Binanipuram, Vengola, and Thiruvaniyoor.
A total of 32 patients have recovered from the illness. Nine patients admitted at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, are in critical condition.
FLTCs
For asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients, a total of 8,694 beds are ready at 141 first-line treatment centres (FLTCs) in the district. At the nine FLTCs that are currently functioning, 563 of the 1,167 beds are occupied, leaving 604 beds vacant.
A home for the destitute and elderly at Thrikkakara, where residents had tested positive earlier, has been converted into an FLTC where 40 persons are currently being monitored. At S.D. Convent at Chunangamveli, which was also converted into an FLTC after members of the institution tested positive, 11 persons are receiving treatment.
The other FLTCs are at Adlux convention centre at Angamaly where 132 out of 300 beds are occupied, CIAL convention centre where 145 out of 250 beds are occupied, Rajagiri hostel where 20 out of 158 beds are occupied, a school at Keezhmad where six out of 100 beds are occupied, NUALS at Kalamassery where 119 out of 150 beds are occupied, and EMS Town Hall at Perumbavoor where 53 out of 85 beds are occupied.
The district administration aims to set up 10,000 beds at FLTCs.
Transportation plan
A transportation plan has been prepared by the district administration to facilitate the transport of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19 positive patients to FLTCs without delay, and their subsequent transport to a COVID hospital, if necessary.
Each FLTC is required to have three vehicles, including an ambulance and two double-chambered vehicles, at the ready, managed by the civic body. Arrangements to conduct antigen tests will also have to be made at FLTCs.
A mobile medical team will be available in every taluk for emergency care. Each FLTC will be attached to one of the two COVID hospitals — MCH or the facility at Njarakkal — to which patients will have to be shifted if symptoms become severe. A team will be set up at the taluk level, with the tahsildar and health supervisor, to monitor these vehicle movements.
Collector tests negative
District Collector S. Suhas’s test results have returned negative. He was tested after a member of a club who had donated items last week to the FLTC at Vazhakulam tested positive. Members of the club and the Vazhakulam panchayat president had visited the Collectorate where the items were handed over, said a panchayat official.
