The COVID-19 graph continued to grow in the district as 7,430 more people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Saturday.
As a result, the active case pool grew to 57,533, even as 4,163 people recovered from the illness during the last 24 hours.
Among the fresh set of cases, 7,220 have been attributed to contact transmission, while the source of infection was unknown in the others. As many as 58 health-care workers were among those diagnosed with the disease.
The death toll in Thiruvananthapuram rose significantly with 14 more deaths being attributed to COVID-19 on Saturday. The deceased included a 101-year-old Pallichal native who died on Friday (January 21). A majority of those who succumbed to the disease were aged above 70 years, according to official statistics.
A total of 255 people were hospitalised in various parts of the district, taking the total count of people undergoing isolation in hospitals to 1,732. As many as 96,102 other COVID-19-infected people are undergoing quarantine in their homes or in designated institutions.
CSLTC
The district administration has earmarked a facility in a government-run hospital as COVID-19 second-line treatment centre (CSLTC) to treat and quarantine 40 people simultaneously. The maternity block at the Government Ayurveda College Hospital for Women and Children (AVCH), Poojappura, has been identified for the purpose.
The District Disaster Management Authority has instructed the District Medical Officer and the hospital superintendent to depute adequate staff at the facility.
COVID-19 spread in prison
The third wave has begun to affect the functioning of the Poojappura Central Prison with 245 people testing positive for the disease on the premises. These included 239 prisoners and nine prison officers.
Those infected were identified after 961 people were subjected to COVID-19 testing during the last three days. While a few of those who suffered from serious comorbidities have been shifted to a hospital, the others have been lodged in separate blocks on the prison premises.
