The highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases as well as the largest number of infected persons through local transmission were reported in Kozhikode district on Tuesday. Of the 58 persons tested positive for the virus, 53 got it through contact with infected persons. They include the grama panchayat president of Thooneri and a panchayat official there.
Against this backdrop, the District Disaster Management Authority has imposed more restrictions across Kozhikode, District Collector S. Sambasiva Rao said. Action would be taken against those who violate the protocol laid down by the Health Department, he said. The unscientific use of face masks and crowding was dangerous. The control rooms set up in local bodies would keep a tab on anyone coming from other places and rapid response teams would have to be informed about the visit to other districts. The visits of people from other districts to tourism spots in Kozhikode would be restricted too, Mr. Rao said.
According to sources, the grama panchayat office in Thooneri has been closed and triple lockdown has been imposed there. As many as 47 COVID-19 cases there were detected through antigen tests. They are now put up at the first-line treatment centre set up at the hostel of National Institute of Technology-Calicut at Chathamangalam. There were three cases in the nearby Nadapuram grama panchayat too, all through contact with infected persons earlier. The other cases of local transmission in the district are from Kallayi and Nallalam. Twenty-one others recovered from the infection too. The total number of active COVID-19 cases in the district now is 209.
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