After a short period of relative calm, COVID-19 cases jumped in the district with 84 people testing positive on Tuesday.
Local transmission cases formed the majority of the new cases with 62 contracting the disease through contact. Rest of the cases include 12 people who came from abroad, eight from other States, and another two cases without any known source of infection. The district also reported its fifth COVID-19 death. The deceased was identified as a 70-year-old man.
Not on list yet
Although a 62-year-old woman from Mararikulam South tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 posthumously on Tuesday, the fatality is yet to be included on the list of COVID-19 deaths in the State.
Of the contact cases, five from Kayamkulam were on the contact list of COVID-19 patients associated with the Kayamkulam market. Two persons from Chandiroor and one from Pattanakkad were on the contact list of patients with links to Chellanam harbour. Rest were reported from Alappuzha, Vallikunnam, Punnapra, Arthunkal, Chettikkad, Chandiroor, Cherthala and Pathirappally.
Sources of infection of a 75-year-old woman native of Nooranad and a 28-year-old woman from Panavally are untraceable.
80 cured
Meanwhile, 80 people who were undergoing treatment for COVID-19 tested negative for the disease. The number of active cases in the district stands at 691. All wards in Mararikulam South grama panchayat were declared as containment zones.